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Baron's Marvellous Underground Journey · Baron's Marvellous Underground Journey

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This is the biographical notice of Baron Trump's Marvelous Underground Journey. This is a
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LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
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or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Marcel D.
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Ward thesoul expands dot com. Baron Trump's Marvelous Underground Journey by Ingersoll Lockwood biographical
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notice. The biographical notice of Wilhelm Heinrich Sebastian von Trump, commonly called Little
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Baron Trump, as doubting Thomas's seemed to take particular pleasure in popping up on
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all occasions jack in a box like it may be well to head them off
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in this particular instance by proving that Baron Trump was a real baron and not
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a mere baron of the mind. The family was originally French Huguenot de la
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Trump, which, upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantests in sixteen eighty
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five, took refuge in Holland. Words head assumed the name of von der
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Trump, just as many other of the French Protestants rendered their names into Dutch.
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Some years later, upon the imitation of the Elector of Brandenburg, Nicholas
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van der Trump became a subject of that prince and purchased a large estate in
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the province of Pomerania, again changing his name, this time to von Trump.
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The little baron, so called from his diminutive stature, was born some
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time in the latter part of the seventeenth century. He was the last of
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his race in the direct line, and although cousins of his are today well
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known Pomeranian gentry. He began his travels at an incredibly early age, and
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filled his castle with such strange objects picked up here and there in the far
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away corners of the world that the simple minded peasantry came to look upon him
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as half big wig and half magician. Hence the growth of the many myths
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and fancible stories concerning this indefatigable globe trotter. The date of his death cannot
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be fixed with any certainty, but this much may be said. Among the
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portraits of Pomeranian notables hanging in the wrathhouse at Steddin, there is one picturing
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a man of low stature and with a head much too large for his body.
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He is dressed in some outlandish costume and holes in his left hand A
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grotesque image in ivory most elaborately carved. The broad faces full of intelligence,
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and the large gray eyes are lighted up with a good nature but quizzical look
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that invariably attracts attention. The man's right hand rest upon the back of a
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dog, sitting on a table and looking straight out with an air of dignity
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that shows that he knew he was sitting for his portrait. If the visitor
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asked the guide who this man is, he always gets for answer, Oh,
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that's the little Baron. But little Baron, who that's the question?
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Why may it not be the famous Wilhelm Heinrich Sebastian von Trump, commonly called
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Little Baron Trump and his wonderful dog Bulger and of biographical notice recording by Marcel
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D. Ward. Thesold expands dot com Baron Trump's Marvelous Underground Journey by Ingersoll
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Lockwood. Chapter one. Bolger is greatly annoyed by the familiarity of the village
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dogs and the presumption of the housecats. His health suffers thereby, and he
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implores me to set out on my travels again. I readily consent, for
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I had been reading of the world within a world in a musty old manuscript
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written by the learned Don Fung, parting interviews with the elder Baron and the
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gracious Baroness my mother preparations for departure. Boger was not himself at all,
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dear friends. There was a lackluster look in his eyes, and his tail
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responded with only a half hearted wag when I spoke to him. I say
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half hearted, for I always had a notion that the other end of Bulger's
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tail was fastened to his heart. His appetite, too, had gone down
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with his spirits, and he rarely did anything more than sniff at the dainty
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food which I set before him, although I tried to tempt him with fried
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chicken livers and toasted cost combs, two of his favorite dishes. There was
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evidently something on his mind, and yet it never occurred to me what that
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something was. To be honest about it, it was something which, of
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all things, I never should have dreamed of finding. There. Possibly I
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might have discovered that an earlier day what it was all about. It had
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not been that. Just at this time I was very busy, too busy,
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in fact, to pay much attention to anyone, even to my dear
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four footed foster brother. As you may remember, dear friends, my brain
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is a very active one, and when once I had become interested in the
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subject, Castle Trumpe itself might fire and burn until the legs of my chair
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had become charred, before I would hear the noise and confusion, or even
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smell the smoke. It so happened at the time of Bulger's low Spirits that
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the elder Baron had, through the kindness of an old school friend, come
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into possession of a fifteenth century manuscript from the pen of a no less celebrated
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thinker and philosopher than the learned Spaniard Don Constantino Bortolomeo Streffolo official Guandneris Fum,
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commonly known among scholars as Don Fum, entitled A World within a World.
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In this work, Don Fum advanced the wonderful theory that there is every reason
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to believe that the interior of our world is inhabited, that, as is
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well known, this vast earth ball is not solid, on the contrary,
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being in many places quite hollow, that ages and ages ago, terrible disturbances
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had taken place on its surface and had driven the inhabitants to seek refuge in
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these vast underground chambers, so vast in fact as well to marry the name
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of world within a world. This book, with its crumpled, torn and
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time stained leaves, excelling the odors of vaulted, cripped and worm eaten chest,
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exercise a peculiar fascination upon me. All day long, and often far
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into the night. I sat pouring over its musty and mildew pages, quite
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forgetful of the surface world, and with the plummet of thought sounding these subterranean
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depths, and with the eye and ear of fancy visiting them, and gazing
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upon and listening to the dwellers therein while I would be thus engaged. Boger's
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favorite position was on a coaintly embroidered leather cushion, brought from the Orient by
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me on one of my journeys, and now placed on the end of my
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work table, nearest the window. From this point advantage, Boger commanded a
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full view of the park and the terrors, and of the drive leading up
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to the poor Cocheer. Nothing escaped his watchful eye. Here he sat,
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hour by hour, amusing himself by noting the comings and goings of all sorts
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of folk, from the hawkers of Googleles to the noblest people in the shire.
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One day my attention was attracted by is suddenly leaping down from his cushion
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and giving a low grow of displeasure. I paid little heed to it,
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but to my surprise, the next day, about the same hour, it
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occurred again. My curiosity was now thoroughly aroused, and laying down don Fum's
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musty manuscript, by hastened to the window to learn the cause of Boger's irritation.
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Lo the Seeker was out. There stood half a dozen mongle curs,
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belonging to the tenantry of the baronial lands, looking up to the window,
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and by their barking and annex endeavoring to entice Boger out for a romp.
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Dear friends, need I assure you that such familiarity was extremely distasteful to Boger.
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Their impudence was just a little more than he could stand. Ringing my
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bell, I directed my servant to hunt them away, whereupon Boger consented to
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resume his seat by the window. Next morning, just as I had settled
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myself down for a good long read, I was almost by Bogo bounding into
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the room, with eyes flashing fire and teeth laid bare in anger. Laying
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hold of the skirt of my dressing gown, he gave it quite a savage
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tug, which meant, put thy book aside, little master, and follow
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me. I did so. He led me downstairs, across the hallway,
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and into the dining room. And then this new cause of discontent on his
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part became very apparent to me. They're grouped around his silver breakfast place,
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sat an ancient tabby cat and four kittens, all calmly licking or lapping away
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at his breakfast. Looking up into my face, he uttered a sharp complaining,
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how as much as to say, there, little master, look at
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that, isn't that enough to rub the patience of a saint? Canst thou
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wonder that I am not happy with all these disagreeable things happening to me.
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I tell thee little master, it is too much for flesh and blood to
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put up with. And I thought so too, and did all in my
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power to comfort my unhappy little friend. But judge of my surprise, upon
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reaching my room and directing him to take his place on his cushion, to
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see him refuse to obey, It was something extraordinary and set me to thinking.
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He noticed this and gave a joyful bark, then dashed into my sleeping
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apartment. He was gone for several moments, and then returning, bearing in
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his mouth a pair of Oriental shoes, which he laid at my feet.
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Again and again he disappeared, coming back, each time with some article of
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clothing in his mouth. In a few moments he had laid a complete oriental
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costume on the floor before my eyes. And would you believe me, dear
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friends, it was the identical suit which I had worn my last travels in
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far away lands, when he and I had been wrecked on the island of
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Googla, the land of the round bodies. What did it all mean?
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Why this? To be sure, little master, canst thou not understand thy
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dear bulgar. He is wary of this dull and spiritless existence. He is
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tired of this increasing familiarity on the part of these marble curves of the neighborhood,
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and of the audacity of these kitchen tabbies and their families. He implores
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thee s break away from this life of reverie and in action, and for
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the honor of the Trumps to be up and away again, stooping down and
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winding my arms around my dear Bulger, I cried out, Yes, I
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understand THEE now, faithful companion, and I promise THEE that before this moon
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has filled her horns, we shall once more turn our backs on castle,
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trump up and away in search of the portals to din Fum's world within a
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world. Upon hearing these words, Bulger broke out into the wildest, maddest
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barking, bounding hither and thither, as if the very spirit of mischief had
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suddenly nestled in his heart. In the midst of these mad gambles, a
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low rap on my chamber door caused me to call out, peace, Peace,
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Good Bulgar, someone knocks peace, I say it was the elder Baron,
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with summer mean and stately tread. He advanced and took conceit beside me
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on the canopy. Welcome, honored father, I exclaimed, as I took
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his hand and raised it to my lips. I was upon the very point
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of seeking THEE out. He smiled, and then said, well, little
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Baron, what thinkest thou of dn Fume's world within a world? I think,
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my Lord? Was my reply that dun Fum is right that such a
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world must exist, and with thy consent, it is my intention to set
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out in search of its portals with all safe haste, and as soon as
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my dear mother, the great Baroness and may be able to bring our heart
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to part with me. The other Baron was silent for a moment, and
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then added, Little Baron, much as thy mother and I shall dread to
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think of thy being again out from under the safe protection of this venerable roof,
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the moss grown tiles of which have sheltered so many generations of the Trumps.
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Yet must we not be selfish in this matter? Heaven forbid that such
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a thought should move our souls to stay thee The honor of our family,
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Thy fame as an explorer of strained lands and far away corners of the globe
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call unto us to be strong hearted. Therefore, my dear boy, make
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ready and go forth once more in search of new marbles. The learned don
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Fom's chart will stand thee by like a safe and trusty council. Remember,
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Little Baron, the motto of the Trumps peradua ad astro. The pathway to
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glory is strewn with pitf dangers. But the comforting thought shall ever be mine
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that when thy keen intelligence fails, Bulger's an erring instinct will be there to
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guid. As I stooped to kiss the elder Baron's hand, the gracious Baroness
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entered the room, Bulger hastened to raise himself upon his hind legs and lick
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her hand in token of respectful greeting. The tears were pressing hard against her
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eyelids, but she kept them back, and encircling my neck with her loving
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arms, she pressed many and many a kiss upon my cheeks and brow.
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I know what it all means, my dear son, she murmured, with
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the status of smiles. But it never shall be said that Gertrude Baroness von
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Trump stood in the way of her son, adding new glories to the family.
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Scutching, go go, little Baron, and Heaven bring thee safely back
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to our arms and to our hearts in its own good time. At these
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words, Bulger, who had been listening to the conversation with pricked up ears
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and listening eyes, gave one long howl of joy, and then, springing
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into my lap, covered my face with kisses. This done event in his
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happiness and a string of ear splitting barks in a series of the maddest gambols.
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It was one of the happiest and proudest days of his life, for
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he felt that he had exerted considerable influence and straying to the sticking point my
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resolution to set out on my travels once again. And now the patter of
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hurrying feet and a loud murmur of anxious voices resounded through the castle corridors.
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While inside and out, ever and anon, I could hear the cry,
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now whispered and now outspoken, the little baron is making ready to leave home
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again. Bogo ran hither and thither, surveying everything, taking note of all
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the preparations, and I could hear joyous bark ring out as some familiar article
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used by me on my former journeys was dragged from his hiding place. Twenty
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times a day, my gentle mother came to my room to repeat some good
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counsel or reiterate some valuable caution. It seemed to me that I had never
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seen her so calm, so stately, so lovable. She was very proud
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of my great name, and so in fact were every man, woman and
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child in the castle, and I not gotten off as I did, I
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should have been literally killed with kindness, and Boger slain with sweetcake. End
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of chapter one, Chapter two, done Fum's mysterious directions, Boger and I
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set out for Petersburg and thence proceed to our Angel. The story of our
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journey as far as ilag on the illage Ivan the teamster, how we made
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our way northward in search of the portals to the world within a world,
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Ivan's threat, Bolger's distrust of the man, and other things. According to
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the learning don Fum's manuscript, the portals to the world within a world were
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situated somewhere in northern Russia, possibly so he thought, from all indications,
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somewhere on the westerly slope of the Upper Urals, but the great thinker could
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not locate them with any accuracy. The people will tell thee was the mysterious
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phrase that occurred again and again on the mildewed pages of this wonderful writing.
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The people will tell thee Ah. But what people will be learning enough to
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tell me? That was the brain racking question which I asked myself, sleeping
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and waking at sunrise at high noon, and at sunset, at the crowing
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of the cock, and in the silent hours of the night. The people
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will tell THEE said learned down fum ah. But what people will tell me
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where to find the portals to the world within a world hitherto? On my
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travels, I had made choice of a semi oriental guard, both on account
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of its picturesqueness and its lightness and warmth. But now, as I was
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about to pass quite across Russia for a number of months, I resolved to
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die in the Russian national costume, for speaking Russian fluently as I did a
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score of more of languages living and dead. I was thus being able to
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come and go without everlastingly displaying my passport or having my trains of thought constantly
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disturbed by inquisitive traveling companions. Very important thing to me, for my mind
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possessed the extraordinary power of working out automatically any task assigned to it by me,
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provided it was not suddenly thrown off its track by some ridiculous interruption.
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For instance, I was upon the very point one day of discovering perpetual motion,
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when the gracious Barrenness suddenly opened the door and asked me whether I had
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pared the nails on my great toes lately, as she had observed that I
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had worn holes in several pairs of my best stockings. It was about the
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middle of February when I set out from the Kessel Trump and I journeyed night
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and day in order to reach Petersburg by the first of March, for I
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knew that the government trains would leave that city for the White Sea during the
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first week of that month. Bulger and I were both in the best of
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health and spirits, and the fatigue of the journey didn't tell upon us in
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the least. The moment I arrived at the Russian capital, I applied to
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the Emperor for permission to join one of the government trains, which was most
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graciously accorded. Our route lay almost directly to the northward for several days,
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at the end of which time we reached the shores of Lake Ladoga. This
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we crossed on the ice with our sledges, as a few days later we
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did Lake Onega, thence by landing, and we kept on our way until
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Onega Bay had been reached, crossing it too on the ice, and so
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reaching the station of the same name, where we halted for a day to
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give our horses a well deserved rest. From this point we proceeded in a
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straight line over the snowfields to Archangel, an important trading post on the White
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Sea. As this was the destination of the government train, I parted with
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its commandant after a few days pleasant soljourn at the government house, and set
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out, attended only by my faithful bulger and two servants who had been signed
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to me by the Imperial Commissioner. My course now carried me up the River
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Duenna as far as Solvitchikosk. Thence I proceeded on my way over the frozen
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waters of the Uchega River until we had reached the government post of Yardingsk,
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and from here on we headed due east until our hearty little horses had dragged
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us into the picturesque village of Ilag. On the village here we were obliged
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to have battened our sledges for the snows that disappeared like magic, uncovering long
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vistas of green fields, which in a few days the main sun doted with
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flowers and sweet shrubs. At Ilig I was obliged to relinquish from my service
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the two faithful government retainers who had accompanied me from archangel For they had now
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reached the most westerly point which they had been commissioned to visit. I had
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become very much attached to them, and so at Boger, and after their
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departure we both felt as if we were now, for the first time,
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among strangers in a strange land. But I succeeded in engaging, as I
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thought a trustworthy teamster, Ivan by name, who made a contract with me
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for a goodly wage to carry me one hundred miles farther north. But not
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another step farther, little baron, said the fellow doggedly. I was now
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really at the footheels of the northern urals, for the rocky crests and snowclad
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peaks were in full sight. I turned many a wistful look up toward the
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wild regions, shut in by their sheer walls and parapets, shaggy and bristling
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with black pines. For a low, mysterious voice came a whispering in my
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inward ear that somewhere, ah, somewhere in that awful wilderness, I should
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one day come upon the portals of the world within a world in spite of
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all I could do, Bulger took a violent dislike to Ivan, and Ivan
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to him. And if the bargain had not been made and the money paid
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over, I should have looked about me for another teamster. And yet it
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would have been a foolish thing to do, for Ivan had two excellent horses,
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as I saw at a glance, and what was more, he took
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the best care of them at every post, rubbing them until they were quite
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dry, and never thinking of his own supper until they had been watered and
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fed. His turn task, too, was quite new and solidly built,
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and well furnished with soft blankets, all in law as comfortable as you can
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make a wagon which has no other springs than the two long wooden supports that
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reach from axle to axle. True it were somebody lasting, but I could
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notice that Bogo was not overfind a riding in this curious vehicle with its ratily
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banged gait up and down the mountain roads, and often asked permission to leap
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out and follow on foot at length. I've been reported everything in readiness for
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the start, and although I would have faint taken my departure from Illage on
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the village in as quiet a manner as possible. Yet the whole village turned
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out to see us off Ivan's family, father, mother, sisters and brothers,
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wife and children, uncles and aunts and cousins, by dozens alone,
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making up people enough to stock a small town. They cheered and waved their
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kerchiefs. Bulger barked, and I smiled and raised my cap with all the
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dignity of a trump. And so we got away at last from Ilage on
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the villach, Ivan on the box, and Bulger and I at the back,
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sitting close together like two brothers. That we were two breasts with but
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a single heartbeat and two brains busy with the same thought that comparels or come
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sudden attacks, come covert danger, or bold and open faced onslaught, we
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should stand together and fall together, many and many a time. As Ivan's
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horses went crawling up the long stretches of mountain road, and I lay stretched
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upon the broad cushioned seat of the turn tasks, with the blanket rolled up
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for a pillow, I would find myself unconsciously repeating those mysterious words of down
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foam. The people will tell thee, The people will tell thee. So
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steep with the roads that some days we would not make more than five miles,
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and on others a halt of several hours would have to be made to
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enable Ivan to tighten his horse's shoes, reach the axles, or do some
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needful thing in or about his wagon. It was slow work. I it
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was very slow and tedious. But what matters it? How many or great
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the difficulties to a man who has made up his mind to accomplish a certain
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task. Through the storks or the wild geese stop to count the thousands of
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miles between them and their far away homes when the time comes to turn their
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heads southward? Do the brown ants pause to count the hundred of thousands of
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grains of sand which they must carry through their long corridors and winding passages before
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they have burrowed deep enough to escape the frost of midwinter. There had been
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many Trumps, but never one that had thrown up his arms and cried,
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I surrender, And should I be the first to do it? Never,
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not, even if it meant never to see dear old castle trump again.
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One morning, as we went zigzagging up a particularly nasty bit of mountain road,
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I even suddenly wheeled about, and without even taking off his hat,
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cried out, little Baron. I covered the last mile of the one hundred
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to day. If thou wouldst go any farther north, thou must hire another
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teamster. Dost here silence, said I sternly, for the fellow had broken
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in upon a very important train of thought. Boger too at the man's insolence,
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and growled and showed his teeth. But little Baron listen to reason,
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he continued in a more respectful tone, removing his cap. My people will
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expect me back, I promised my father. I'm a dutiful son. I
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nay nay ivan, I interrupted, sharply curb that tongue of nine, lest
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it harmed thy soul. No, then that I spoke with thy father,
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and he promised me that thou shouldt go a second hundred miles with me if
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need were, but on condition that I give thee double pay. It shall
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be done. And on top of that, and goodly present for your darling,
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little Baron. Thou art a hard master, whimpered the man. The
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wind took the thou wouldst bid me leap into the giants well, just to
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see whether it has at bottom or not see Nicholas saved me. Nay,
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I am said, I kindly, I know no such word as cruelty,
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although I do confess that right seems harsh at times. But thou wert born
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to serve and I to command. Providence hath made thee poor and me rich.
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We need each other. Do thou thy duty, and thou wilt find
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me just and consider it. Disobey me and thou would find that this short
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arm maybe stretched from Ilag to Petersburg. I've been turned pale at this hidden
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threat of mine, but I deemed it necessary to make it for I as
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well as Bulger has sent a treasury and rebellion about this boorish fellow, whose
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good trait was his love of his horses. And it has always been my
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rule in life to open my eyes wide to the good that there is in
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a man, and close them to his fault. But in spite of kind
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words and kind treatment, Ivan grew surlier and moodier. The moment we had
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passed one hundredth milestone, Bogo watched him with a gaze so steady and thoughtful
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that the man fairly quailed before it. Or by hour he became more and
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more arrestive, and upon leaving a roadside tavern for the very first time since
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we had left the ilitch on the illage, I noticed that the fellow had
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been drinking too much cost He let loose his tongue and raised his hand against
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his horses, which until that moment he had been wont to lower down with
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caresses and pen names. Look out for that driver of dying little Baron,
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whispered the tavern keeper. He's in a reckless mood. He not pull up
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if the giants well were gaping in front of him. Saint Nicholas had thee
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in his safe keeping. End of chapter two, Chapter three, more and
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more troublesome Bulgar watches him closely his cowardly attack upon me, My faithful Bulgar
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to the rescue a driver worth having. How I was carried to a place
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of safety in the hands of old Juliana the giants well when we halted for
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the night. It was only by threatening the man with severe punishment upon my
31:22
return to hitch that I could bring him to rub his horse's dry and feed
31:26
and water them properly. But I stood over him until he had done his
31:30
work thoroughly, for I knew that no such horses could be had for love
31:33
or money in that country, and if they should go lane from standing with
31:37
wet coats in the chill night air, it might meet a week's delay.
31:41
Scarcely had I thrown myself on the hard mattress, which the tavern keeper called
31:45
the best bed in the house. When I was aroused by loud and boisterous
31:48
talking in the next room, Ivan was drinking and quarreling with the villagers.
31:52
I strode into the room with the arrows of indignation shooting from my eyes,
31:56
and the faithful bulgar close at my heels. The moment Ivan set eyes upon
32:01
us, he shrank away, half in earnest and half in jest, and
32:06
called out, Look at the mazuntchik, the little dandy, how smartly looks
32:10
he frightens me? See his eyes, how they shine in the dark.
32:14
Look at the little demon on four legs beside him. Save me, brother,
32:17
save me. He will throw me down into the giant's well. My
32:21
uncle will never see me again. Save me, brothers, peace fellow,
32:25
I called out sternly, how darest thou exercise thy dull wit on thy master.
32:30
Get thee to bed at once, or I'll have thee whipped by the
32:32
village constable for thy drunkenness. Ivan clamored up upon the top of the bake
32:37
oven and stretched himself out on a sheepskin. Then, turning to the tavern
32:42
keeper, I forbade him, under any pretext whatever, to give my servant
32:45
any more liquor to drink. Ah, your excellency, exclaimed the tavern keeper,
32:52
with a gesture of disgust. The fools never know when they have had
32:55
enough. It matters not what the tavern keeper may say to them. They
33:00
tell us not to spoil our own trade. Ah, they don't know when
33:04
to stop. They have throats as deep as that. Giants well, giants,
33:07
well, the giant's well, I murmured to myself as I again threw
33:13
myself down upon the bag of hay, which did service as a mattress for
33:15
those who could afford to pay for it. It's strange how those words seemed
33:20
to be in every peasant's mouth, but I thought no more about it at
33:22
the time. Sleep got the better of me, and with my usual good
33:27
night to the elder baron and the gracious Baroness my mother, I dropped off
33:30
into sweet forgetfulness. It is a good thing that I had the power of
33:35
falling asleep almost at will, for with my restless brain, ever throbbing and
33:38
pulsating, with its own overabundance of strength, ever tapping at the thin panels
33:44
of bone which covered it, like an imprisoned inventor pounding on his cell door
33:47
and pleading to be let out into the daylight. With his plans and schemes,
33:52
I should simply have become a lunatic. As it was, with the
33:55
mere power of thought I ordered sweet Slumber to come to my rescue. And
33:59
so obedient was this good angel of mine that all I had to do was
34:02
simply to set the time when I wished to awaken, and the thing was
34:06
done to the very minute. As for a bulgar, I never pretended to
34:09
lay down any rules for him. He made it a practice of catching forty
34:14
winks when he was persuaded that no danger of any kind threatened me. And
34:19
even then I am half inclined to believe that, like an anxious mother over
34:22
her babe, he never quite closed both eyes at once. Though entirely sobered
34:28
by daybreak, Yet Ivan went about the task of harnessing up with such an
34:30
ill grace that I was obliged to reprove him several times before we had left
34:36
the tavern yard. He was like a vicious but cowardly animal that quails before
34:40
a strong and steady eye, but watches its opportunity to spring upon you when
34:45
your back is turned. I not only called Bulgar's attention to the fellow's actions.
34:50
I warned him to be very watchful. But I also took the precaution
34:53
to examine the priming of the brace of Spanish pistols, which I carried thrust
34:58
into my belt. We had scarcely he pulled out into the highway when a
35:00
low growl from Bulgar aroused me from a fit of meditation. And this growl
35:06
was followed by such an anxious whine from my four footed brother as he raised
35:10
his speaking eyes to me, that I glanced hastily from one side of the
35:15
road to the other, lo and behold, the treacherous Ivan was deliberately engaged
35:20
in an attempt to overturn the torrantas and to get rid of his enforced task
35:22
of transporting us any farther on our journey. Wretch, I cried, springing
35:28
up and laying my hand on his shoulder. I perceive very plainly what thou
35:31
hast in mind. But I warn thee most sulemnly that if thou makest another
35:35
attempt to overturn thy wagon, I'll slay thee where thou sittest. For only
35:39
answer, And with a lightning light quickness, he struck a back hand blow
35:44
at me with the loaded end of his whip stock. It took me full
35:46
in the right temple and sent me to the bottom of the tarantus like a
35:50
piece of lead. For an instant the terrible blow robbed me of my senses.
35:53
But then I saw that the cowardly villain had turned in his seat and
35:58
had swung the heavy handled whip aloft with intent to despatch me with a second
36:01
and surer blow. Poor fool he reckoned without his host, for with a
36:06
shriek of rage, Bulgar leaped at his throat like a stone from a catapult,
36:09
and struck his teeth deep into the fellow's flesh. He roared with agony
36:15
and attempted to shake off this unexpected foe, but in vain. By this
36:19
time I had come to a full realizing sense of the terrible danger. Bulgar
36:22
and I were both in for Ivan had dropped his whip and was reaching for
36:27
his sheath knife, but he never gripted it, for a well aimed shot
36:30
from one of my pistols struck him in the forearm. For I had no
36:34
wish to take the man's life and broke it. The shock and pain so
36:37
paralyzed him that he fell over against the dashboard, half in a faint,
36:42
and then rolled completely out of the wagon, dragging Bulgar with him. The
36:45
horses now began to rear and plunge. I saw no more. There was
36:50
a noise as of the roar of angry waters in my ears, and then
36:53
the light of life went out of my eyes entirely. I had swooned dead
36:57
away. It seemed to me that I lay there on my back in the
37:00
bottom of the Tarantas, with my head hanging over the side, But of
37:04
course it was only minutes. I was aroused by a prickling sensation on my
37:07
left cheek, and as I slowly came to myself, I discovered that it
37:10
proceeded from the gravel thrown up against it by one of the front wheels of
37:15
the tarantas. For the horses were galloping along at the top of their speed,
37:19
And there on the driver's seat sat my faithful Bulgar, the reins in
37:22
his teeth, bracing himself so as to keep them taut over the horses backs.
37:27
And as I sat up and pressed my hand against my poor hurt head,
37:30
the whole truth broke upon me. The moment Ivan had struck the ground,
37:35
Bulgar had released his hold on the fellow's throat, and ere he had
37:37
had a chance to revive, he had leaped up into the driver's seat,
37:42
and catching up the reins in his teeth, had drawn them taut, and
37:45
thus put an end to the rearing and plunging of the frightened beast, and
37:49
started them on their way, leaving the enraged Ivan brandishing his knife and uttering
37:53
imprecations upon mine in Bulgar's heads as he saw his horses and wagon disappear in
37:59
the distance. Now was it that a mad shouting assailed my ears? And
38:04
I caught a glimpse of half a dozen peasants who seen this as they thought
38:07
empty Torrentus come nearer and nearer, with its galloping horses, had abandoned their
38:12
work and rushed out to intercept it. Judge of their amazement, dear friends,
38:15
as their eyes fell upon the common skillful driver, bracing himself on the
38:20
front seat and with oft repeated backward tosses of his head, urging those horses
38:23
to bear his beloved master farther and farther away from the treacherous Ivan's sheath knife.
38:30
As the peasants seized the animals by the heads and brought them to a
38:32
standstill, I staggered to my feet and threw my arms around my dear bulgar.
38:37
He was more than pleased with what he had done, and licked my
38:40
bruised brow with many a piteous moan. Saint Nicholas Savus, cried one of
38:45
the peasants, devoutly making the sign of the cross. But if I should
38:49
live long enough to fill the giants well with pebbles, I never would expect
38:52
to see the likes of this again. Giants well, the giants well,
38:58
I murmured to myself, as I followed one of the peasants to his cot,
39:00
standing a little back from the highway, for I stood sore in need
39:04
of rest after the terrible experience I had just had. The blow of Ivan's
39:07
whip handle had jarred my brain, and I was skilled enough in surgery to
39:13
know that the hurt called for immediate attention. As good luck would have it,
39:16
I found beneath the peasant's roof one of those old women, half witches
39:20
perhaps, who have recipes for everything, and who know an herb for every
39:23
ailment. After she had examined the cut made by the loaded whip handle,
39:27
she muttered out, it's not as broad as the mount the Norse, deep
39:31
as the giants. Well, but it's bad enough, little master. The
39:35
giants well, again, thought I, as I laid me down on the
39:38
best bed they could make up for me. I wonder where it may be
39:43
that giant's well, and how deep it is, and who drinks the water
39:46
that is drawn from it. End of chapter three, Chapter four, My
39:54
Wound Heels, Uliana talks about the giants Well. I resolved to visit it.
40:00
Preparations to ascend the mountains. What happened to Juliana and to me?
40:05
Reflection and then action. How I contrived to continue the ascent without Uliana for
40:09
a guide. It was a day or so before I could walk steadily,
40:14
and meantime I made unusual efforts to keep my brain quiet. But in spite
40:19
of all I could do every mention of the giant's well by one of the
40:22
peasants sent a strange thrill through me. I would find myself suddenly pacing up
40:27
and down the floor and repeating over and over again the words giants well,
40:31
giants well. Bulgar was greatly troubled in his mind, and sat watching me
40:37
with a most bewildered look in his loving eyes. He had half a suspicion.
40:40
I think that the cruel blow from Ivan's whip handle had injured my reasoning
40:45
powers, for at times he uttered a low, plaintive whine. The moment
40:50
I took notice of him, however, and acted more like myself, he
40:53
gamboled about me in the wildest delight. As I had directed the peasants to
40:58
drive Ivan's horses back towards Iluch on the Illach until they should meet the miscreant
41:04
and deliver them to him, I was now without any means of continuing my
41:07
journey northward unless I set out, like many of my famous predecessors, on
41:12
foot. They had longer legs than I, however, and were not loaded
41:15
with so heavy a brain in proportion to their sides, and a brain too
41:20
that scarcely ever slept least not soundly I was too impatient to reach the portals
41:24
to the world within a world. To go trudging along a dusty highway,
41:30
I must have horses and another tarantas, or at least a peasant's cart I
41:35
must push on. My head was quite healed now, and my fever gone.
41:39
Hearken, little master, whispered Juliana. Such was the name of the
41:45
old woman who had taken care of me. Thou ert not what thou sheamst.
41:50
I never saw alike of thee before. If thou would'st I believe thou
41:54
could'st tell me how high the sky ease, how thick threat through the mountain's
42:00
air, and how deep the giant's well is? I smiled, and then
42:05
I said, didst ever drink from the giant's well? Uleianna, at which
42:08
she wagged her head and sent forth a low chuckle. Hearken, little Master.
42:15
She then whispered, coming close to me and holding up one of her
42:19
long bony fingers. Thou canst not trig me. Thou knowest if the giant's
42:24
well hath no bottom, no bottom, I repeated breathlessly, as Don Fum's
42:31
mysterious words, the people will tell thee flash through my mind. No bottom
42:37
Uleiana, naught to n list Thy nyes are better than mine, little master,
42:43
she murmured, nodding her head slowly. Listen, Uleiana, I burst
42:46
out impetuously. Where is this bottomless well? Thou shalt lead me to it?
42:52
I must see it. Come, let's start at once. Thou shalt
42:53
be well paid for thy pains. Nay, nay, little master, Not
42:59
so first, she replied, eatst far up the mountains, the way steep
43:05
and rug at the pass are narrow and winding. A false step might mean
43:10
instant death, were there not some strong hand to save thee. Give up
43:15
such a mad thought as ever geting there, except it be on the stout
43:20
shoulders of some mountaineer. A good woman, was my reply. Thou hast
43:27
just said that I am not what I see, And thou saidest truly know?
43:30
Then thou seest before thee. The world renowned traveler will Helm Heinrich Sebastian
43:37
van Trump, commonly called Little Barontrom, that though short cut of stature and
43:44
frail of limb, yet what there is of me is of iron. There,
43:47
you, Leana, there's gold for thee. Now lead the way to
43:52
the giant's well. Gently gently, little Baron, almost whispered the old peasant
43:59
woman, as her shrink hand closed upon the gold piece. I have not
44:02
told thee all for leagues about thy ween. No living being excepting me knows
44:08
where the giant's well. Ease asked them in the veil. See it's up
44:14
yonder in the mountains avay, up under the eaves of the sky. That's
44:20
all. That's all they can tell thee. But little master, I know
44:24
where it is. And the very herb that cured thy heart head and save
44:30
thee from certain death by cooling thy blood, was plucked by me from the
44:34
brink of the well. These words sent a thrill of joy through me.
44:38
For now I felt that I was on the right road, that the words
44:42
of the great Master of all masters, don Fum had come true. The
44:45
people will tell thee I the people had told me. For now there was
44:51
not the faintest shadow of doubt in my mind that I had found the portals
44:54
to the world within a world. New Leanna should be my guide. She
44:59
knew how to thread her way up the narrow pass, to turn aside from
45:01
overhanging rocks which a mere touch might topple over, to find the steps which
45:07
nature had hewn in the sides of the rock parapets, and to pursue her
45:10
way safely through clefts and gorges, even the entrance to which might be invisible
45:15
to ordinary eyes. However, in order that the superstitious peasants might be kept
45:21
friendly to me, I gave it out that I was about to betake myself
45:24
to the mountains in search of curiosities for my cabinet, and begged them to
45:29
furnish me with ropes and tackle, with two good stout fellows to carry it
45:34
for me, promising generous payment for the services. They made haste to provide
45:38
me with all I asked for, and we set out for the mountain path
45:43
at daybreak. Juliana, in order not to seem to be of the party,
45:46
had gone on ahead by the light of the moon, telling her people
45:50
that she wished to gather certain herbs before the sun's rays struck them, and
45:53
dried the healing dew that beaded their leaves. All went well until the sun
45:59
was well up over our heads, when suddenly I heard a woman who proved
46:02
to be Juliana, utter a piercing scream. In a moment or so,
46:07
the mystery was solved. The old Beldam came rushing down the mountain, her
46:13
thin whisper of gray hair flattering in the wind. Her hands were tied behind
46:16
her, and two young peasants with birchin rods were beating her every chance they
46:22
got. Turned back, Turned back, brothers, they cried to my two
46:25
men. The little wizard there has struck hands with this ould witch. They're
46:30
on their way to the giant's well. They'll loosen a band of black spirits
46:34
about our ears. We shall all be bewitched. Quick, quick, cast
46:38
off the lord's you're bearing and follow us. The two men didn't wait for
46:42
a second, bidding and throwing the tackle on the ground. They all disappeared
46:45
like a flash. But for several moments I could hear the screams of poor
46:50
Juliana as these young wretches beat the old woman with their birchen rods. Tell,
46:55
dear readers, what say you to? This? Was I not an
46:59
a pleasant position, truly alone with Bulgar in that wild and gloomy mountain region,
47:06
the black rocks hanging like frowning giants and ogres over our heads, with
47:09
the dwarf pines for hair, clumps of white moss for eyes, vast gaping
47:15
cracks for mouths, and gnarled and twisted roots for terrible fingers, ready to
47:21
reach down for my poor little weason frame. Did I follow trembling? Did
47:27
I make haste to follow those craven spirits down the mountain side? Did I
47:30
shift the peg of my courage a single hole lower? Not I. If
47:37
I had, I wouldn't have been worthy of the name I bore. What
47:39
I did do was to throw myself at full length on a bed of moss
47:44
called bulgar, to my side, and close my eyes to the outer world.
47:47
I had heard of great men going to bed at high noon to give
47:51
themselves up to thought, and I had often done it myself before I had
47:55
heard of their doing it. In fifteen minutes, by nature's watch the sun
48:00
on the face of the mountain, I had solved the problem. Now there
48:04
were two difficulties staring me in the face, namely, to find somebody to
48:07
show me the way up the mountain, and if that body couldn't carry my
48:12
tackle, then to find somebody else who could. It had ancorred to me
48:15
that I had noticed some cattle grazing at the foot of the mountain, and
48:19
what's more, that these cattle were very peculiar yokes. What are these yokes
48:24
for, I asked myself, for they were of a mate quite different from
48:29
any that I remembered ever having seen, and consisted of a stout wooden collar,
48:35
from the bottom of which there projected backward between the beast's fore legs a
48:38
straight piece of wood, armed with an iron spike pointing toward the ground.
48:44
At the top. The yoke was bound by a leather thong to the animal's
48:47
horns so long. Therefore, as the beast held his head naturally, or
48:52
even lowered it to graze, the yoke was drawn forward and the hook was
48:55
kept free from the ground. But the very moment the animal raised his head
49:00
in the air, at once the hook was thrown into the ground, and
49:02
he was prevented from taking another step forward. Now, dear readers, you
49:07
may or may not know that when a cleft hoofed animal starts to ascend a
49:12
steep bank, unlike a solid hoofed beast, he throws his head into the
49:16
air instead of lowering it. And therefore it struck me at once that the
49:21
purpose of this yoke was to keep the cattle from making their way up the
49:24
sides of the mountain and getting lost. But why should they want to clamor
49:31
up the mountain sides simply because there was some kind of grass or herbage growing
49:37
up there, which was a delicacy to them. And knowing as I well
49:40
did, what risks animals will take and what fatigue they will undergo to reach
49:45
a favorite grazing ground, it struck me at once that if I would make
49:50
it possible for them to reach this favorite food of theirs, they would be
49:53
very glad to give me a lift on my way. No sooner said than
49:58
done, I forthwith retraced my steps until I fell in with a group of
50:02
these cattle, and it did not take me many minutes to loosen their yokes
50:07
from their horns and tie the hooks up under their bodies, so that their
50:09
progress up hill would not be interfered with. They were delighted to find themselves
50:15
so unexpectedly freed from the hateful drawback which permitted them merely to view the coveted
50:21
grazing grounds from afar. And then, having cut me a suitable goad,
50:24
I again started up the mountain, driving my new friends leisurely on ahead of
50:30
me. Upon reaching the spot where the superstitious peasants had thrown the tackle to
50:35
the ground, I proceeded to load it upon the back of the gentlest beast
50:37
of the lot, and was soon on my way again. End of chapter
50:43
four, Chapter five, Up and still up, and through the quarries of
50:49
the demons. How the cattle kept the trail, and how we came at
50:52
last upon the brink of the giant's well. The terraces are safely passed,
50:58
beginning of the descent into the well itself. All difficulties overcome we reached the
51:04
edge of Polyphemus's funnel. Generally speaking, people with very large heads are fitted
51:09
out by nature with a pair of rather pipe stemy legs. But such was
51:15
not my case. I was blessed with legs of the sturdiest sort, and
51:19
found no difficulty in keeping pace with my new four footed friends, who,
51:22
to my delight, were not long in convincing me that they had been there
51:27
before. Not for an instant did they halt at any fork in the path,
51:30
but kept continually on the move, often passing over stretches of ground where
51:35
there was no trail visible, but coming upon it again with unfailing accuracy.
51:40
Once only they halted, and that was to slake their thirst at a mountain
51:45
rill vulgar, and I followed their example. It was only too evident to
51:49
me that they had in mind a certain grazing ground, and were resolved to
51:52
be satisfied with no other. So I let them have their own way,
51:57
For as it was still up up up, I felt that it was perfectly
52:00
safe to follow their lead. At last, the mountain side began to take
52:04
on quite another character. The gorges grew narrower, and at times overhanging rocks
52:09
shut out the sunlight almost entirely. We were entering a region of peculiar wildness,
52:15
of fantastic grandeur. I had often read of what travelers termed the quarries
52:21
of the demons in the Northern Urals, but never till now had I the
52:24
faintest notion of what the expression meant. Imagine to yourself the usual look of
52:30
ruin and devastation around and about a quarry worked by human hands. Then,
52:36
in your thoughts, conceive every chip to be a block, and every block
52:40
a mass. Add four times at size to every slab and post and pecument,
52:45
and then turn a mighty torrent through the place, and roll and twist
52:50
and lift them up in wild confusion, end on end and on each other.
52:53
Piled to these wild waters have builded fantastic portals to temples moran and arched
53:00
wild gorges with roofs of rock, which seemed to hang so lightly that a
53:06
breath or footfall might bring them down with terrible crash. And then, dear
53:10
friends, you may succeed in getting a faint idea of the wild and awful
53:15
grandeur of the scene which now lay spread out before me. Would the cattle
53:21
that had now led Bulgar and me so safely up the mountain side know where
53:23
to find an entrance to this wilderness of broken rock? And what was more
53:28
important, still, would they, when once engaged within its winding courts and
53:32
corridors, its darkened maze of wall and parapet its streets and plazas roughly paved
53:37
as if by demon hands, impatient of the task, know how to find
53:42
their way out again? Dear friends, man has always been too distrustful of
53:46
his four footed companions. They have much that they might tell us, had
53:52
they but speech to tell it with. I have often trusted them when it
53:54
would have seemed foolhardy to you. At never once have I had cause to
54:00
repent of doing so. So Bulgar and I, with stout hearts, followed
54:05
straight after these silent guides, although I must confess my legs were beginning to
54:09
feel the terrible strain I had put them to, but I resolved to push
54:13
on a head at least until we had cleared the demon's quarry, and then
54:16
to bring my little herd to a halt and pass the rest of the day
54:20
in the night season in well earned repose. Once within the quarry, however,
54:24
all sense of fatigue vanished, and my thankful mind, entranced and fascinated
54:30
by the deep silence, the awful grandeur, the mysterious lights and shadows of
54:35
the place, lent me new strength. At length we had traversed this city
54:39
of silence and gloom, and once again we emerged into the full glory of
54:44
the afternoon sun. Suddenly, my little drove of cattle, with playful tossing
54:47
of their heads, broke into a run, Bulgar and I at their heels.
54:52
However, it was a mad race, but dear friends, when it
54:54
ended, I took off my fur cap and tossed it high into the air
54:59
with a wild cry of joy, and Vulgar broke out in a string of
55:02
yelps and barks. For look, ye, the cattle were crazy away for
55:07
dear life there in front of me, And as their breath reached my keen
55:10
nostrils, recognized the odor of Juliana's herbs, which she had bound on my
55:15
hurt head. Yes, we stood almost upon the brink of the giant's well,
55:21
but I was too dared to take another step farther, too tired,
55:24
in fact, to eat, although I had a stalk of dried fruit in
55:28
my pockets, and noticed that the nests of the wild fowl were well supplied
55:32
with eggs. Having unloosened the tackle from the back of the good beast that
55:37
had carried it up the mountain for me, I threw myself on the ground
55:40
and was soon fast asleep, with my faithful Bulgar boiled up close against my
55:45
breast. In the morning, the cattle were nowhere to be seen, but
55:51
I didn't trouble myself about them, for I knew that old Juliana would be
55:54
sent up after them the moment they were missed. After a hearty breakfast on
55:59
half a dozen roasted eggs, of the wild fowl with some dried fruit and
56:02
winter green berries vulgar, and I advanced to the edge of the Giant's Well,
56:07
or rather to the edge of the vast terraces of rock leading down to
56:10
it, each of which was from thirty to fifty feet in share height.
56:15
Before I go any further, dear friends, I must beg you to remember
56:17
that I am an expert in the use of tackle, there being no not
56:22
noose or splice known to a sailor which I didn't have at my fingers ends,
56:27
in fact not to be wondered at when you take into consideration the thousands
56:30
of miles which I have traveled on water. Nor would I have you shake
56:35
your heads and look only half persuaded when I go on describing our descent into
56:38
the Giant's Well, For of course you'll be asking yourselves how I succeeded in
56:45
getting the tackle down when there was no one left at the other end to
56:47
and tie it. No, then that that was the smallest of my troubles,
56:52
For as any sailor will tell you, you only need to tie your
56:55
line in what is known as a fool's knot to one end of which you
56:59
make fast mere cord. The moment you have reached the bottom, a sharp
57:02
tug at the cord unties the fool's knot, and your tackle falls down after
57:07
you. My method was to lower Bulgar down first, and then let myself
57:12
down after him. In this way we proceeded from parapet to parapet, until
57:16
at last we stood upon the very edge of the vast well, the existence
57:20
of which had been so mysteriously hinted at in Don Fome's manuscript. Its mouth
57:24
was probably fifty feet in width, and by straining my eyes, I satisfied
57:30
myself of the existence of a shelf of rock on one side as nearly as
57:35
I could judge, about seventy five feet down. It was a goodly stretch,
57:40
and would require every foot of my rope. You will not smile,
57:44
I am sure when I tell you that I pressed Vulgar to my breast and
57:47
kissed him fondly before lowering a way. He returned my caresses, and by
57:52
his joyous yelp gave me to understand that he had perfect faith in his little
57:58
master. In a few more moments I had joined him on this narrow shelf
58:01
of rock. Below us now was darkness, but think you, I hesitated.
58:07
I knew that my eyes would soon become accustomed to the gloom. And
58:10
I also knew that when my eyes failed, Hulgar's keener ones were there to
58:15
help me out. I rigged my tackle now with extra care, for I
58:20
was really lowering my little brother on a sort of trip of discovery. He
58:24
was soon out of sight. And then, in spite of my calmness,
58:28
I drew a quick breath, and my heart started upward a barley corner or
58:31
so. But hark, his quick, sharp bark comes plainly up to me.
58:37
It means that he has landed upon a safe shell for ledge. And
58:39
the next moment my legs encircled the rope, and I began to glide noiselessly
58:44
down into the stilly depths, his glad voice ringing in my ears. Again
58:50
and again did I send my wise and watchful little brother down ahead of me,
58:54
until at last, standing there and looking up, naught remained to me
58:59
of the mighty outside world, but a bright silver spack, like a tiny
59:02
ray of light streaming through a pin hole in the curtains of your chamber.
59:07
But stop, have we reached the bottom of the Giant's well? For with
59:10
a trial plummet, I find that the walls are no longer sheer. They
59:15
slope inward and gently too, almost so much so that I hardly need a
59:20
line to continue my descent. Lighting one of my little tapers, I make
59:23
my way cautiously around the edge. In half an hour, I find myself
59:28
back at the starting place. The curve to the path has always been the
59:31
same, while my trial plummet at all times has indicated the same slope to
59:37
the rocky basin. And then, for the first time, two certain words
59:40
made use of by that learned master of Master's don fum till then a mystery
59:45
to me stood out before my eyes, as if written with a pen upon
59:49
those black walls, thousands of feet below the great world of light, which
59:52
I had quitted a few hours before. Those words were Polyphemus's funnel. Yes,
59:59
there could be no doubt of it. I had reached the bottom of
1:00:01
the giant's well. I stood upon the edge of Polyphemus's funnel. End of
1:00:09
Chapter five, Chapter six, my despair, upon finding the pipe of the
1:00:15
funnel too small for my body, A ray of hope breaks in upon me.
1:00:21
Full account of how I succeeded in entering the pipe of the funnel.
1:00:24
My passage through it, Bulgar's timely aid the Marble Highway, and some curious
1:00:30
things concerning the entrance to the world within a world. The rocky sides of
1:00:35
Polyphemus's funnel were apparently as well polished as those of any tin funnel that I
1:00:39
had ever seen hanging in the kitchen of Castle Trump. So, making fast
1:00:45
my tackle and taking Bulgar in my arms away, we went sliding down the
1:00:49
side, with the line passed under my arm. For safety's sake. It
1:00:52
was nearly a hundred feet to the bottom, for I had measured off the
1:00:57
full length of my line before I had come to the apex of this gigantic
1:01:00
cone, And, not caring to tumble headlong down its pipe, I proceeded
1:01:05
to light a taper and look about me. Ah, dear friends, I
1:01:08
can feel that shudder. Now, So terrible was it? And what wonder
1:01:13
too? For A glance at the pipe of the funnel told me that it
1:01:15
was too small to let my body pass through. The agonizing thought flashed through
1:01:22
my mind that I had committed a terrible error, that I had mistaken some
1:01:25
vast pit for the giants well, that I had thrown bulgars in my own
1:01:30
life away in a mad and unreasoning haste, that I should never reach the
1:01:36
wonderful world within a world, that there in that thick gloom we must lay
1:01:39
our bodies and bones, or thought I may not have learned, Master of
1:01:45
masters, don Fume have made an error himself, and holding out the idea
1:01:51
that the pipe of Polyphmus's funnel was large enough to admit the passage of a
1:01:54
man's body. In my almost frenzy, I advanced to the mouth of the
1:01:59
pipe, and, lowering myself into it, let my body sink as far
1:02:02
as it would. It caught at the shoulders, and after a careful examination,
1:02:07
I was forced to reach the brain racking conclusion that my faithful bulgar and
1:02:13
I had traveled our last mile together. There was nothing for us to do
1:02:16
but to lie down and die, lie down and die never. I had
1:02:22
noticed, in making the descent into the giant's well that its side had much
1:02:25
the appearance of being walled around by blocks of stone. With bulgar strap to
1:02:30
my back, I would slowly climb up from shelf to shelf until my strength
1:02:34
failed me, and then I would wait until I thought old Juliana had come
1:02:37
back together herbs, and possibly I might make her hear me. In my
1:02:42
despair, I sighed and clutched my own arms, and as I did so,
1:02:45
one of my hands came into contact with something cold and slippery, having
1:02:49
the feel of tallow. Taking a pinch of the substance between my thumb and
1:02:53
finger, I rubbed it thoughtfully for a moment, and then a ray of
1:02:57
hope broke through the awful gloom that enshrouded me so piteously. It was black
1:03:04
lead. There could be no doubt of it. It had made its way
1:03:07
through a crack or crevice in Polyphemus's funnel, and I had rubbed it off
1:03:12
in sliding down the side with this greasy material to rub on the inside of
1:03:16
the pipe to the funnel, and also to besmear myself with. Mayhap I
1:03:22
might yet slip through into the world within a world. At any rate,
1:03:24
I determined to make the trial, even if I left some of my skin
1:03:29
on the flinty rock, in order to collect my thoughts thoroughly, and that
1:03:32
I might proceed step by step in that systematic order so characteristic of all my
1:03:37
wonderful exploits. I sat down and putting my arm around dear Bulger's neck and
1:03:43
drawing him up against me. I communed with myself for a good half hour.
1:03:47
Then all was in readiness for action, and to prove to you,
1:03:52
dear friends, how careful Bulgar was not to interrupt my train of thought.
1:03:55
I have to report to you that although a small animal of the rat family
1:04:00
came out from a crevice in the rock while I sat there, thinking as
1:04:03
I could see by the light of my tiny wax taper, and had the
1:04:06
temerity first to sniff at Bulger's tail and then to give it a playful nip.
1:04:13
Yet the sagacious animal never budged a hair's breadth. Mind hath ordered.
1:04:19
Now let hands obey, I exclaimed, as I sprang up and began stripping
1:04:25
off my outer garments. This done, I clambered up on the side of
1:04:29
the funnel and began to collect a supply of the black lead, which I
1:04:32
deposited near the opening of the pipe. The next thing to do was to
1:04:35
get Bulgar through the pipe ahead of me. To this end, I tied
1:04:41
him up in my clothing bag fashion and began to lower away. After paying
1:04:45
out sixty five or seventy feet of line. He struck bottom, and by
1:04:50
his loud barking, gave me to understand that it was all rigid, that
1:04:54
I might make the descent myself. Upon hearing his voice, I gave the
1:04:59
line a few sharp tugs. He was not so slow to comprehend my meaning,
1:05:03
and any moment or so had not only scrambled out of the bag himself,
1:05:08
but pulled my clothing loose so that I might draw the line up again.
1:05:12
My next step was to contrive a way to weight to myself when the
1:05:15
moment arrived to begin the descent, For I felt sure that I never should
1:05:18
be able to arrange it so as to slip through the pipe unless something was
1:05:23
pulling at my heels. Cutting off about ten feet of the rope, I
1:05:27
made fast one end of the piece to a long piece of rock weighing about
1:05:31
a hundred pounds. This I laid near the mouth of the pipe, ready
1:05:35
for use. But now came the most difficult thing of all. It was
1:05:39
to draw my shoulders in on my breast and lash them securely in that position,
1:05:44
by which plan I expected to reduce my width in at least two good
1:05:47
inches. These two inches thus gained, or rather lost, might be the
1:05:53
means by which I would be able to slip through the pipe of Polypmus's funnel
1:05:57
and reach the vast underground passage leading to the world within a world. Putting
1:06:00
a noose around my chest just below my collar bone, I drew my shoulders
1:06:05
in as tight as I could bear, and changed the slip knot into a
1:06:09
hard one. Then, having made the other end of the line fast to
1:06:13
the side of the funnel, I proceeded to wind myself up, as the
1:06:16
housewives often do, a big sausage to keep it from bursting. This done,
1:06:21
I set about rolling in the black lead until I was thoroughly smeared with
1:06:26
it. There was now but one thing more to do before dropping myself into
1:06:30
the pipe, and that was to make fast the weight to my feet.
1:06:33
It was no easy task, wound up as I was with my arms lashed
1:06:38
down against my body, but by the use of slip knots, I finally
1:06:42
accomplished the feet, and, sitting down, put my legs into the pipe
1:06:45
and drew a long breath, for I felt as if I was skewered up
1:06:49
in a strait jacket. Bending down, I called out to Bulgar. He
1:06:54
answered with a yelp of joy that brought fresh vigor to my heart. Now
1:06:58
was come the supreme moment, which was to witness success or failure? Failure?
1:07:03
Oh, what a dread word is that? And yet how often must
1:07:06
human lips pronounce it? And in so doing breathe out the sigh in which
1:07:11
it ends? Quickly lowering the weight, I wriggled off the edge of the
1:07:15
opening and straightened myself out as I slipped into the pipe. Had I stopped
1:07:20
it like a cork? Or was I moving? Yes? Down, down,
1:07:25
gently, slowly, noiselessly, I went slipping through the pipe to Polyphemus's
1:07:30
funnel. What did I care how that weight caused the line to cut into
1:07:33
my ankles. I was moving. I was drawing nearer and nearer to Bulgar,
1:07:38
whose joyous spark I could hear now, and then nearer to the inner
1:07:41
gates of the world within a world. But woe is me? I suddenly
1:07:45
stop, and in spite of all my efforts to start again, by twisting,
1:07:48
turning, and shaking my body, it refused to sink another inch,
1:07:53
And there I stick. Oh Bulgar, Bulgar, I moan, faithful friend,
1:07:59
if thou could'st reach me. One tug from thee might save thy little
1:08:02
master. In a sort of wild and desperate way. I now began to
1:08:08
feel about me as well as I could, with my hands wedged in so
1:08:11
close to my sides. But in a moment or so I had discovered the
1:08:15
cause of my coming to such a sudden standstill. I had struck a portion
1:08:18
of the pipe that had a thread to it, like that which encircles a
1:08:21
bolt of iron and makes a screw of it. And the thought came to
1:08:25
me that if I could only succeed in giving a revolving motion to my body,
1:08:30
I would, with every turn twist myself further down toward the end of
1:08:32
the pipe. I could feel that my knuckles and finger tips were being bruised
1:08:36
and lacerated by this arduous work. But worth cared I for the keen pain
1:08:42
that darted from hands to wrists and wrists to elbows. It was like twisting
1:08:46
a screw slowly through a long knut. Only the thread in this case was
1:08:50
on the nut and the little groves in the screw, and that screw was
1:08:55
my poor bruise little body. All of a sudden, by the swinging of
1:09:00
the weight. I could tell that it had passed out at the lower end
1:09:02
of the pipe. It was pulling cruelly hard on my tender ankles, but
1:09:06
I could twist myself no more. My strength was gone. I was at
1:09:12
the point of swooning when I heard Bulgar utter a loud yelp, And the
1:09:15
next instant there was such a strong tug at my ankles that I sent forth
1:09:18
a groan. But that hug saved me. It was Bulgar who had leaped
1:09:24
into the air, and catching the rope in his teeth, had dragged his
1:09:27
little master out of the pipe of Polyphemus's tunnel. We all fell into the
1:09:30
same heap, Bulger and I and the weight. Fully ten feet and very
1:09:35
serious might have been the consequences for me had my fall not been broken by
1:09:40
my striking on the pile of my clothing placed directly under the opening. And
1:09:44
dear friends, if you talked until the crack of doom, you could not
1:09:47
make me believe that my four footed brother hadn't placed those clothes there to catch
1:09:53
me. They weren't thrown higglely piggledy into a heap, either, but were
1:09:58
laid one upon the other. The heavy at the bottom. Having unwound myself
1:10:01
and lighted one of my wax tapers, I made haste to cast away the
1:10:05
undergarment with its coating of black lead, and resume my clothing. Then,
1:10:10
stooping down, I made an examination of the floor. It was composed of
1:10:14
huge blocks of marble, of various colors, polished almost as smooth as if
1:10:18
the hand of man had wrought the work. And then I knew that I
1:10:21
was on Nature's marble highway leading to the cities of the underworld, which Don
1:10:27
Fume had mentioned in his book. And I remembered too that he had spoken
1:10:30
of Nature's mighty mosaics, huge fantastic figures on the walls of these lofty corridors,
1:10:38
made up of various colored blocks and fragments, laid one upon the other,
1:10:41
as if with design, and not by the wild, tempestuous whims of
1:10:45
upbursting forces thousands of years ago, when the Earth was in its mad and
1:10:50
wayward youth. After a rest of several hours, during which I nursed my
1:10:56
torn hands and bruised fingers, Bulgar and I were up and off again alone,
1:11:00
this broad and glorious marble highway. Strange to say, it was not
1:11:03
the inky darkness of the ordinary cavern which filled these magnificent chambers through which the
1:11:09
Marble Highway went winding in stately and massive grandeur. Far from it, the
1:11:15
gloom was tempered by a faint glow that met us on the way. Ever,
1:11:18
and anon like a ray of twilight gone astray. Anyway, Vulgar I
1:11:24
noticed could see perfectly well, so tying a bit of twine to his collar,
1:11:28
I sent him on ahead, convinced that I could have no surer guide.
1:11:32
At times our path would be lighted up for an instant by the bursting
1:11:36
out of a little tongue of flame, either on the sides or from the
1:11:40
roof of the gallery. I was puzzled for quite a while to tell what
1:11:44
it proceeded from, but at last I caught sight of the source, or
1:11:47
rather the maker, of this welcome illumination. It proceeded from a lizard like
1:11:51
animal, which, by suddenly uncoiling its tail, had the power to emit
1:11:56
this extremely bright flesh of phosphorescent light, and in so doing he made a
1:12:00
sharp crack for all the world, like the noise of an electric spark.
1:12:04
Bulgar was delighted with this performance, and On one occasion, not being able
1:12:09
to control his feelings, he uttered a sharp burk, whereupon apparently ten thousand
1:12:14
of the little torch bearers snapped their tails at me at the same instant,
1:12:17
and filled the vast place with a flash of light of almost lightning like intensity.
1:12:23
Bulgar was so frightened by the result of his applause that he took good
1:12:27
care to keep quiet after this end of chapter six. Chapter seven, Our
1:12:34
first night in the underworld, and how it was followed by the first break
1:12:39
of day, Bulgar's warning, and what it meant we fall in with an
1:12:44
inhabitant of the world within a world his name, and calling, mysterious return
1:12:49
of night, the land of beds, And how our new friend provided one
1:12:54
for us. So heavy with sleep did my eyelids become at last that I
1:12:59
knew it must be night in the outer world. And so we halted,
1:13:02
and I stretched myself at full length on that marble floor, which, by
1:13:06
the way, was pleasantly warm beneath us, and the air, too,
1:13:11
was strangely comforting to the lungs, there being a complete absence of that smell
1:13:15
of earth and odor of dampness so common in vast subterranean chambers. My sleep
1:13:19
was long continued and most refreshing. Mulgar was already awake. However, when
1:13:25
I sat up and tried to look about me, he began tugging at the
1:13:28
string which I had fastened to his collar, as if he wanted to lead
1:13:31
me somewhere. So I humored him and followed along. After, to my
1:13:35
delight, he led me straight to a pool of deliciously sweet and cold water.
1:13:40
Here we drank our fill, and, after a very frugal breakfast on
1:13:44
some dried figs, set out again on our journey along the Marble Highway.
1:13:47
Suddenly, to my more than joy, the faint and uncertain light of the
1:13:51
place began to strengthen. Why, it seemed almost as if the day of
1:13:57
the upper world were about to break, so delicate it where the various hues
1:14:00
in which the ever increasing light clothed itself. Then, as if a frightened
1:14:05
at its own increasing glory, it would fade away again, almost a gloom.
1:14:10
Ere many moments again, this faint and mysterious glow would return, beginning
1:14:15
with the softest yellow, then changing to a dozen different tints, and,
1:14:18
like a fickle made uncertain which to wear put all aside and down the lily's
1:14:24
garb vulgar, and I wandered along the marble Highway, almost afraid to break
1:14:29
the stillness so deep that it seemed to me as if I could hear those
1:14:31
sportive rays of light in their play against the many colored rocks arching this mighty
1:14:38
corridor. Now, as the Marble Highway swept around in a graceful curve,
1:14:43
a dazzling flood of light burst upon us. It was sunrise in the world
1:14:47
within a world. Whence came this flood of dazzling light, which now caused
1:14:51
the sides and arching roof to glow and sparkle, as if we had suddenly
1:14:56
entered one of nature's vast doorhouses of polished gems. Shading my eyes with my
1:15:01
hand, I looked about me in order to try and solve the mystery.
1:15:04
It did not take me long to understand it all. Know, then,
1:15:09
dear friends, that the seedlings, domes, and arched roofs of this underground
1:15:13
world were fretted with a metal of greater hartness than any known to us children
1:15:16
of sunshine. Its seams ran hither and thither like the veins of gigantic leaves,
1:15:23
and at certain hours, currents of electricity from some vast internal reservoir of
1:15:28
nature's own building streamed through these metal treceeries until they glowed with the heat,
1:15:32
so white as to give off the flood of dazzling light of which I have
1:15:36
already spoken. The current never came with a sudden rush or burst, but
1:15:42
began gently and timidly, so to speak, as if feeling its way along.
1:15:46
Hence the beautiful tints that always preceded sunrise in this lower world, and
1:15:50
made it so much like the coming and going of our glorious sunshine. The
1:15:56
marble highway now divided, and the two halves of the forest curving away to
1:16:00
the right and left enclosed a small but exquisitely ornamented perk, or pleasure ground
1:16:04
I might call it. Provided with seats of some dark wood beautifully polished and
1:16:09
carved, this park was ornamented with four fountains, each springing from a crystal
1:16:15
basin and spreading out into a feathery spray that glistened like whirling snow in the
1:16:19
dazzling white light. As Vulgar and I directed our steps toward one of the
1:16:25
benches, with the intention of taking a good rest. A low growl from
1:16:29
him warned me to be on the alert. I gave a second look.
1:16:31
A human being was seated on the bench beside myself. As I was with
1:16:36
curiosity to come face to face with this inhabitant of the underworld, the first
1:16:41
we had met, I made a halt, determined to ascertain, if possible,
1:16:45
whether he was quite harmless before accosting him. He was small in stature
1:16:50
and clad entirely in black, a sort of loose flowing robe, much like
1:16:55
a Roman toga. His head was bare, and what I could see if
1:16:59
it was around, smooth and rosy, with about as much hair, or
1:17:02
rather fuzz upon it as the head of an infant six weeks old. His
1:17:06
face was hidden by a black fan, which he carried in his right hand,
1:17:11
and the uses of which you will learn later on. His eyes were
1:17:15
shielded from the intense glare of the light by a pair of colored glass gulls.
1:17:18
As he raised his hand between me and the light, I couldn't help
1:17:20
catching my breath. I could see right through it. The bones were as
1:17:26
clear as amber. His head, too, was only a little less opaque.
1:17:30
Suddenly, two words from don Fum's manuscript flashed through my mind, and
1:17:34
I exclaimed joyously, bulgar were in the land of the transparent folk. At
1:17:40
the sound of my voice, the little man arose and made a low bow,
1:17:44
lowering his fan to his breast, where he held it. His baby
1:17:46
face was ludicrously sad and solemn. Yes, Sir Stranger, said he in
1:17:53
a low musical voice, thou art indeed in the land of the Mica Minkeyese
1:17:58
mich a man in the land of the transparent folk, called also Goggleland.
1:18:02
But if I should show thee my heart, thou wouldst see that. I
1:18:05
am deeply pained to think that I should have been the first to bid thee
1:18:10
welcome. For no, sir Stranger, that thou speakest with Master hold Soul,
1:18:15
the court depressor, the saddest man in all goggle Land. And by
1:18:19
the way, Sir, permit me to offer thee a pair of goggles for
1:18:23
thyself and also a pair for thy four footed companion, for our intense white
1:18:28
light would blind thee both in a few days. I thanked Master Cold Soul
1:18:33
very warmly for the goggles, and proceeded to set one pair of stride my
1:18:36
nose, and to tie the other in front of bulgar's eyes. I then,
1:18:41
in most courteous manner, informed Master cold Soll who I was, and
1:18:45
begged him to explain the cause of his great sadness. Well thou must know,
1:18:48
little Baron, said he, after I had taken a seat beside him
1:18:53
on the bench, that we, the loving subjects of Queen Galaxa, whose
1:18:57
royal heart is almost run down. Excuse me these stairs, living as we
1:19:00
do in this beautiful world, so unlike the one you inhabit, which our
1:19:04
wise men tell us, is built strange, to say, on the very
1:19:08
outside of the earth's crust, where it is most exposed to for a false
1:19:13
sweep of blinding snow, praising blast, pelting hail, drowning rain, and
1:19:17
choking dust. Living as we do, I say, in this vast temple
1:19:21
by nature's own hands, builded where disease is unknown, and where our hearts
1:19:27
run down, Like clocks that may have but one winding. We are prone
1:19:30
a last to be too happy, to laugh, too much, to spend
1:19:34
too much time in idle gaiety, chattering the time away like thoughtless children amused
1:19:42
with baubles, delighted with tinsel nothings. Know, then, little barn,
1:19:46
that mine is the business to checkiscaiety, to put an end to this childish
1:19:51
belief to depress our people's spirits lest they run too high. Hence, my
1:19:57
garb of inky hues, my rueful countenance, my frequent outflowing of tears,
1:20:01
may voice ever a tuned to sadness. Excuse me, little baron, my
1:20:06
fans slipped in fits see through me. I would not have thee sea my
1:20:12
heart to day. For some way or other I cannot bring it to a
1:20:14
slow pace. It is dreadfully unruly. I assured him that I had not
1:20:18
seen through him as yet. And now differends. I must explain that,
1:20:24
by the laws of the Micamenks, each man, woman, and child must
1:20:28
wear in their garments a heart shaped opening on their breast directly over their hearts,
1:20:31
with a corresponding one at the back, so that, under certain conditions,
1:20:35
when the law allows it, each may have the right to take a
1:20:38
look at his neighbor's heart and see exactly how it is beating, whether fast
1:20:42
or slow, whether throbbing or leaping, or whether pulsating naturally. But this
1:20:46
privilege is only accorded, as I have said, under certain conditions. Hence,
1:20:51
to shut off inquisitive glances. Each Michamenki is allowed to carry a black
1:20:56
fan with which to cover the heart shaped opening above described, and in this
1:21:00
way conceal his or her feelings to a degree, I say, to a
1:21:04
degree, for I may as well tell you right here that falsehood is unknown,
1:21:10
or more correctly stated, impossible, in the land of the transparentful,
1:21:14
for the reason that so wondrously clear, limpid, and crystal like are their
1:21:17
eyes. The slightest attempt to say one thing while they are thinking another royals
1:21:23
and clouds them, as if a drop of milk had fallen into a glass
1:21:27
of the purest water. As I sat gazing at this strange little bean seated
1:21:31
on the bench there beside me, I recalled a conversation which I had had
1:21:35
with a learned Russian at slow Richegutsk, said he, speaking of his people,
1:21:41
we are all born with light hair, brilliant eyes, and pale faces,
1:21:45
for we have sprung up under the snow. And I thought to myself,
1:21:49
how delighted, how entranced, he would have been to look upon this
1:21:54
curious being borne not under the snow, but far under the surface of the
1:21:58
earth, or in these vast chambers of this world. Within the world,
1:22:01
this strange folk had, like plants grown in a dark, deep cellar,
1:22:05
gradually parted with all their coloring, until their eyes glowed like orbs of pure
1:22:11
crystal, until their bones had been bleached to amber clearness, and their blood
1:22:15
coursed colorless through colorless veins. While sitting there, following out the strain of
1:22:21
thought, the clear white light suddenly began to flicker and to play fantastic tricks
1:22:26
upon the walls, by dancing in garbs of ever changing hues, now brightest
1:22:30
yellow, now palest green, now glorious purple, now deepest crimson. Ah
1:22:36
little Baron exclaimed, master gold saw, that was an uncommonly short day rise.
1:22:43
Please, I made haste to obey. Whereupon he touched a spring,
1:22:46
and the bench opened in the center, disclosing two very comfortable beds. In
1:22:51
a few moments, night will be upon us, continued the mcamenkey. But
1:22:57
how SEO is that we have not been taken by surprise? I should explain
1:23:00
to thee little baron that, owing to the capricious manner in which our river
1:23:04
of light is apt both to begin and to see slowing, we are never
1:23:09
able to tell how long a day or a night will prove to be.
1:23:12
This is what we call twilight in thy world. I suppose day goes out
1:23:16
with a terrible bang. For our wise men tell us that nothing can be
1:23:20
done in the upper world without making a noise, that your people really love
1:23:26
noise, and that the man who makes the greatest noise is considered the greatest
1:23:29
man. Owing to the fact, little Baron, that no one in Gobbleland
1:23:33
can tell how long the day will last, or how long it may be
1:23:36
necessary to sleep. Our laws permit no one to set any exact time when
1:23:43
a thing shall be done, or to exact any promise to do this or
1:23:46
that on a certain day. For bless thy soul, that day may not
1:23:50
be ten minutes long. Hence we say, if to morrow be over five
1:23:56
hours long, come to me at the beginning of a sixth hour. And
1:24:00
we never wish each other a plain good night, but say good night as
1:24:04
long as it lasts. What's more, little Baron, as Knight is apt
1:24:09
to come upon us this way unawares. By law, all the beds belong
1:24:14
to the state. No one is allowed to own his own bed, for
1:24:17
when night overtakes him, he may be at the other end of the city,
1:24:20
and some other subject of Queen Galaxa may be in front of his door.
1:24:25
And no matter where knight may overtake him. Micamemki, he is sure
1:24:29
to find a bed. There are beds everywhere. By touching his spring,
1:24:32
they drop from the walls, they pull out like drawers. There are under
1:24:36
the tables and the divans, in the parks, in the market place,
1:24:40
by the roadside, benches, bins, boxes, barrels, and barrels.
1:24:44
By pressing his spring may in an instant be transformed into beds. It is
1:24:48
the land of beds. Little Baron, but ah, I behold, the
1:24:53
twilight goes to its end. Good night, as long as it lasts.
1:24:57
And with this Master Coltzell stretched himself out and began to snore, having first
1:25:02
carefully covered up the two holes in the front and back of his garment so
1:25:06
that I shouldn't have a chance to take a peep through him in case I
1:25:11
should wake up first. Bulger and I were right glad to lay our limbs
1:25:15
on a reel bed, although from the way my four footed brother followed his
1:25:18
tail around and around, I could see that he wasn't particularly delighted with the
1:25:23
softness of the couch. End of chapter seven, Chapter eight. Good morning,
1:25:30
as long as it lasts. Plain talk from Master Coldsole, wonders of
1:25:34
Goggleland. We enter the city of the Micamenks, brief description of it,
1:25:41
our approach to the royal palace, Queen Galaxa and her crystal throne, Master
1:25:46
cold Sol's tears. I don't think the darkness lasted over three hours. Perhaps
1:25:53
it was longer, but Master Coldsole was obliged to shake me gently ere he
1:25:57
could rouse me now, little Baron, said he, after he had wished
1:26:00
me a good morning, with the usual as long as it lasts tacked on
1:26:03
to it. If thou art quite willing, I'll conduct THEE to the court
1:26:06
of our gracious mistress, Queen Galaxa. Our wise men have often discourse to
1:26:13
her concerning the upper world and the terrible sufferings of its people, exposed as
1:26:17
they are to be frozen by the pitiless cold and then burned by the scorching
1:26:23
rays of what they call their son. And she will no doubt aim to
1:26:27
be pleased at sight of THEE. Although I must warn THEE that thou art
1:26:30
most uncomely, that thou seems so black and hard to me scarcely to be
1:26:34
human by rather a bit of living earth or raw. I greatly fear me
1:26:40
that thou wilt make our people extremely vain by comparison, thy four footed companion.
1:26:45
We know well by sight, having often seen his petrified image in the
1:26:49
rocks of the dark chambers of our world. Master cold Soul, said I,
1:26:55
as we walked along, when thou gid'est to know me better, thou
1:26:58
wilt find me more comonly. And although I shall not be able to show
1:27:01
THEE my heart, I hope to be able to prove to THEE and Thine
1:27:04
that I have such a thing. No doubt, no doubt, little baron,
1:27:09
exclaimed Master Coldsole. But be not offended. It is not more pleasant
1:27:13
for me to tell THEE these disagreeable things that it is for THEE to hear
1:27:16
them. But I am paid to do it, and I must earn my
1:27:19
wage. Vanity grows apace in our world, and I prick its bubbles whenever
1:27:24
I see them. To my great wonder, I now discovered that the world
1:27:28
of the Macamenkes had its lakes and rivers like our own, only of course
1:27:31
they were smaller and nearer faced, being never visited by the faintest zephyr.
1:27:36
To my question as to whether they were peopled with living things, Master cold
1:27:41
Soll informed me that they literally swarmed with the most delicious fish, both in
1:27:46
scales and shells. But think not, little Baron. He added, that
1:27:50
we of Goggleland have no other food than such as we draw from the water.
1:27:56
For in our gardens grow many kinds of delicate vegetables, springing up in
1:28:00
a single night, almost as light as foam and just as white. But
1:28:04
we are small eaters, little barren, and rarely find it necessary to put
1:28:10
to death a large shellfish. We merely lay hold of his great claw,
1:28:14
which he obligingly drops into our hand, and forthwith sets about growing another.
1:28:19
But tell me, I pray, Master Coldzoll, said, I where ye
1:28:25
find the silk to weave such soft and beautiful stuff as that thy garment is
1:28:30
fashioned from. In this underworld of ours, little Baron replied Master Coldzall,
1:28:35
there are many vast recesses not reached by the river flight, and in these
1:28:41
dark chambers flit about huge night moss, like restless spirits for ever on the
1:28:47
wing. But of course they are not, for we find their eggs glued
1:28:51
against the rocky sides of these caverns, and call let them carefully. The
1:28:56
worms that are hatched from them spin huge, huge cocoons, so large that
1:29:01
one may not be hidden in my hand. And these, unwound, give
1:29:05
unto our looms all the thread they need. And the beautiful wood, I
1:29:11
continued, which I see about me, carved and fashioned into so many articles.
1:29:15
Whence comes it from the quarries, answered Master Coldzall quarries, I repeated,
1:29:23
wonderingly. Why yes, little Baron, said he, For we have
1:29:26
quarries of wood, as no doubt the hast quarries of stone. Our wise
1:29:30
men tell us that thousands and thousands of years ago fast for us, grown
1:29:34
in your world, were in the upheavals, and falling in of the Earth's
1:29:39
crust, thrust down into ours. The gigantic trunks watched closely together, and
1:29:44
stand in a bolt upright, just as they grew. At least, so
1:29:46
we find them when we have dug away the harlen clay that has shut them
1:29:51
in these many ages. But see, little Baron, that we are now
1:29:56
entering the city yonder is the royal palace. Wilt with me thither ah,
1:30:00
dear friends, would that I could make you see this beautiful city of the
1:30:04
underworld, just as it showed itself to me. Then spread out so gloriously
1:30:10
beneath the glittering domes and vaulted corridors, from which poured down upon the exquisitely
1:30:15
carved and polished entrances to the living chambers of this happy folk, a flood
1:30:19
of white light, apparently more dazzling than on noonday sun, so strangely beautiful
1:30:27
that many times I paused to gaze upon it. Young and all, all
1:30:30
clad in the same gracefully flowing garbs of silk, now purple, now royal
1:30:34
blue, and now rich vermilion, were hurrying hither and thither, each armed
1:30:41
with the inevitable black fan, and the baby face of each aglow with life
1:30:45
and sweet content, while a hundred fountains springing from crystal patients glistened in the
1:30:51
dazzling white light, and ten times a hundred flags amid gonflongs hung listless but
1:30:57
rich and splendor from invisible wires. Strange music came floating along from the gracefully
1:31:03
shaped barges with silken awnings, which were gliding noiselessly over the surface of the
1:31:09
winding river, the oars stirring the waters until the wake seemed a path through
1:31:14
molten silver. As Vulgar and I followed Master cold Soul along the streets of
1:31:18
polished marble, it was not long before a crowd of Micaminke's was at our
1:31:24
heels, whispering all sorts of uncomplimentary things about us, mingled with not a
1:31:30
few fits of suppressed laughter. The court depressor reproved them sternly. Cease your
1:31:36
ill timed mirth, said he, and go about her business. Must I
1:31:41
pause until you a gruesome tale to check your foolish gaiety? No ye nought
1:31:46
that all silly mirth does quicken your hearts and make them run down just so
1:31:51
much sooner. At these words of Master Coal's Soul, they fell back and
1:31:56
put an end to their giggling. But it was only for a moment,
1:31:59
and by the time time we reached the portal of the Royal Palace, a
1:32:01
still louder and noisier crowd was close behind us. Master Cold's Soul suddenly halted,
1:32:08
and, drawing forth a huge pocket handkerchief, begun to weep furiously.
1:32:13
It was not without its effect, and from that moment, I could see
1:32:16
that the Micaminkes were inclined to take a more serious view of my arrival and
1:32:20
their city, although it was only cold Soul's presents that kept them from bursting
1:32:26
out into fits of violent laughter. Above the portals of the Queen's palace there
1:32:31
were large openings hewn in the rock for the purpose of admitting light into the
1:32:35
royal apartments. But these windows, if they may be called such, were
1:32:41
hung with silken curtains of delicate colors, so that the light which entered the
1:32:45
throne room was tempered and softened. The room itself was likewise hung with silken
1:32:49
stuffs, which gave it a look of oriental splendor. But never, in
1:32:54
my travels amongst strange peoples of far away lands, had my eyes ever rested
1:32:59
upon any work of art that equaled the crystal throne upon which sat galaxa queen
1:33:04
of the Macaminkis. In the upper world, most diligent search had never been
1:33:11
able to unearth a piece of rock crystal more than about three feet in diameter.
1:33:15
But here in Queen Galaxis thrown four glorious columns at least fifteen feet in
1:33:21
height, and at their base three feet in diameter, shot up in matchless
1:33:26
splendor, their lower parts shut in spangles of gold that glittered with ever varying
1:33:31
hues as a different light fell upon them. The cross pieces and pieces making
1:33:35
up the back of arms had been chosen on account of the exquisitely beautiful hair
1:33:41
and needle shaped crystals of other metals which they enclosed. A silken boldishing of
1:33:45
rare beauty covered in the throne, and from its edges dropped heavy cords and
1:33:50
tassels of rich color and the perfection of human handicraft as to the fineness and
1:33:58
finish. At the foot of the throne sat the young Princess Cristelina, and
1:34:01
standing behind her and engaged in combing her long silken tresses, was her favorite
1:34:08
waiting maid, Damoiselle Glowstone. While rounded about in files and group wise stood
1:34:14
lords and ladies, courtiers and counselors by the dozen, as master coldsall advanced
1:34:19
to salute the queen. A throng of the idlers who had followed at our
1:34:24
heels crowded into the anteroom with loud outbursts of laughter. The court depressor was
1:34:30
greatly incensed, and turning upon the throng. He began weeping again with wonderful
1:34:34
energy, but I noticed that it was nothing but sound. Not a tear
1:34:40
fell to obscure the crystal clearness of his eyes. Then he began chanting a
1:34:45
sort of song which was intended to have a depressing influence on the wild mirth
1:34:49
of the Mica Minky's I can only recollect one verse of this solemn chant at
1:34:55
the Court Depressor. It ran as follows, weep Mica Minkey's weep, oh
1:35:00
weep for the eyelish man in the City of Flight, for the mouthless man
1:35:03
in Plenty's Powers, for the earless man in Music's Realm, for the noseless
1:35:09
man in the Kingdom of Flower, weep Mica Minkey's weep, oh weep.
1:35:15
The thing only laughed alouder, crying out nay, Master Colsul, and we
1:35:18
will not weep for them, weep for them thyself. At last, Queen
1:35:25
Galaxa raised the slender golden wand tipped with a diamond point that lay within her
1:35:30
hand, and instantly a hush came upon the whole place, while every eye
1:35:34
was riveted upon Bulgar and Me. End of Chapter eight, Chapter nine,
1:35:44
Bulgar and I are presented to Queen Galaxa, the Lady of the Crystal Throne.
1:35:47
How she received us her delight over Bulgar, who gives proof of his
1:35:53
wonderful intelligence in many ways. How the Queen creates him, Lord Bulgar.
1:35:58
All about the three wise men in whom whose care we are placed by Queen
1:36:00
Galaxa. Owing to the soft air, the never varying temperature, and the
1:36:05
absence of all noise and dust, the Micamenkis, although they die in the
1:36:11
end like other folk, yet do they never seem to grow old. Their
1:36:15
skin remained soft and free from wrinkles, and their eyes as clear and bright
1:36:18
as the crystal of Queen galaxis Throne. At the time of our arrival in
1:36:23
the land of the Transparent Folk, Queen Galaxi's heart had almost run down.
1:36:28
In about two weeks more it would come quietly and gently to a stop.
1:36:32
For, as I have already told you, dear friends, the heart of
1:36:35
the Megamenki being perfectly visible when the dazzling white light in its full strength was
1:36:41
allowed to shine through his body. Why it was a very easy matter for
1:36:45
a physician to take a look at the organ of life and tell almost to
1:36:48
the hour when it would exhaust itself, in other words, run down.
1:36:55
Galaxa looked every inch a real queen as she half reclined upon her glorious crystal
1:37:00
throne. She was clad in long, flowing silk garments of a right royal
1:37:03
purple, and the gems which encircled her neck and wrists would have put to
1:37:09
shame the crown jewels of any monarch of the upper world. Her garb had
1:37:14
very much the cut and style of the ancient Greek costume, and the gold
1:37:18
sandals worn by her added to the resemblance. But the one thing that excited
1:37:23
my wonder more than all the others put together was her hair, so long,
1:37:29
so fine and silk, and it was such a mass of it was
1:37:32
there, and so dazzling white. Was it not the blue or yellow white
1:37:38
that comes of age in our world, but a milk white, a cotton
1:37:42
white. And as we drew near to Bulgars, but not to my amazement,
1:37:45
her hair began to quiver and rustle and rise until it buried her whole
1:37:50
throne completely out of sight. Of course, I knew that seated as she
1:37:55
was upon a throne of glass, it was only necessary to send a gentle
1:37:59
current of electricity through her to make her wonderful head of hairs stand up in
1:38:02
this manner like the white and filmy tentacles of some gigantic creature of the sea,
1:38:09
half plant, half animal. Rise, little Baron, said Queen Galaxa,
1:38:14
as I dropped upon my right knee on the lowest step of the throne,
1:38:16
and be welcome to our kingdom. While thou may be pleased to tarry
1:38:21
here, my people shall bestir themselves to show thee all that may seem wonderful
1:38:27
in thine eyes. For although our wise men have often discussed to us of
1:38:31
the upper world, yet art thou its first inhabitant to visit us, And
1:38:36
thy wonderful companion is right welcome too. Can he talk, little Baron?
1:38:43
Not exactly, Queen Galaxa, said I, with low obeisance. Yet he
1:38:47
can understand me and I him. He is quite harmless, is he not,
1:38:53
asked the Queen. You may try to imagine how I felt, dear
1:38:56
friends, when, as I was about to say perfectly so, royal Lady,
1:39:00
to my amazement, I saw Bulgar advance and sniff at the Princess Cristelina,
1:39:04
and then draw back and show his teeth as she stretch out her hand
1:39:08
to caress him. Bending over him, I reproved him in a whisper and
1:39:13
bade him kneel before the Queen. This he proceeded to do, saluting her
1:39:16
with three very stately bows, at which everyone laughed heartily. I would have
1:39:23
him come nearer, said the Queen, so that I may lay my hand
1:39:28
upon him. At a sign from me, Bulgar began to lick his fore
1:39:31
paws very carefully, and then, having wiped them on the rug, sprang
1:39:35
up the steps of the throne and placed his front feet upon Queen Galax's lap.
1:39:40
The fair ruler of the Micamenkes was delighted with this sample of Bulgar's fine
1:39:45
manners, and in order to amuse her still further, I proceeded to put
1:39:48
Bulgar through many of his quaint tricks and caurious feats, bidding him say his
1:39:53
prayers faint death, weep for his sweetheart, count ten, walk upright,
1:39:59
go let and cry to tell how it hurts. Scarcely had he gone half
1:40:03
around the circle feigning lameness, when the Damoiselle Glowstone began to weep herself,
1:40:09
and, stooping down, commenced to caress Bulgar and to kiss his lame foot
1:40:13
caresses, which, to my more than surprise, Bulgar was not slow in
1:40:16
returning. And later two when I bade him choose the maiden he loved best
1:40:20
and kiss her hand, he bounded straight toward Glowstone and bestowed not one,
1:40:26
but twenty kisses upon her outstretched hand, while the Princess Cristelina shrank away in
1:40:30
fear and disgust from the ugly beast as she turned him. Bid him bring
1:40:35
my handkerchief to me, little Baron, cried Galaxa, throwing it on the
1:40:40
floor. I did as Queen commanded, but Bulger refused to obey. Thou
1:40:45
seest Queen, Galaxa, said I, with a low bow. He refuses
1:40:48
to lift the handkerchief without a command from thy royal self, which delicate compliment
1:40:54
pleased the lady mightily. How comes it, little Baron? She asked that
1:40:59
thou shouldst of noble lineage, and thy brother, as thou callest him,
1:41:02
Plain Bulgar, it comes, royal Lady, said I, right humbly,
1:41:06
as it often comes in the world which I inhabit, that honors go to
1:41:10
them that least deserve them. Well, then little Baron cried Galaxa gaily.
1:41:15
Though I be but a petty sovereign compared with thine, yet may small rulers
1:41:20
do acts of great justice. Bid thy four footed brother kneel before us.
1:41:25
At a word from me, Bulgar prostrated himself on the steps of Galaxi's crystal
1:41:30
throne and laid his head at her very feet. Leaning forward, she touched
1:41:33
him lightly with her golden wand and exclaimed, rise, Lord Bulgar Rise.
1:41:39
Queen Galaxa, seated on her crystal throne, bids Lord Bulgar rise. In
1:41:45
an instant, Bulgar raised himself up on his hind feet and laid his head
1:41:49
in the Queen's lap, while the whole room rang with loud huzzahs, and
1:41:54
every lady gently clapped her frail and glass like hands. Save the Princess Cristelina
1:42:00
to be asleep. Queen Glaxa now undid a string of pearls from her neck
1:42:04
and tied them with her own hands around Lord Bulger's. And so it was
1:42:09
that my four footed brother ceased to be plain. Bulgar. Then, turning
1:42:13
to her counselors of state, Queen Galaxa bade them assign a royal apartment to
1:42:17
Lord Bulgar and Me, and gave strict orders that the severest punishment be at
1:42:23
once visited upon any Macamenkie who should dare to laugh at us or to make
1:42:27
disrespectful remarks concerning our dark eyes and skins and weather beaten appearance. For as
1:42:32
the royal ladies said to her people, ye might look worse than they who
1:42:36
were ye compelled to live on the outside instead of the inside of the world,
1:42:42
exposed to biting blasts, piercing cold, and clouds of suffocating dust.
1:42:47
By the Queen's orders, three of the wisest of the Macamenkes were selected to
1:42:53
attend to Bulger and Me look after our wants, explain everything to us.
1:42:57
In a word, do all in their power to make our stay in Goggleland
1:43:00
as pleasant as possible. Their names, as nearly as I can translate them,
1:43:04
were Doctor Nebulosis, Sir Amber Opaque, and Lord Cornercore. I should
1:43:11
explain to you, dear friends, the meaning of these names, for you
1:43:14
might be inclined to think that Doctor Somewhat Cloudy, Sir clear as Amber,
1:43:17
and Lord Heart of Horn might indicate that they were more or less muddled in
1:43:21
their intellects. Far from it, I have already stated to you they were
1:43:26
three of the very wisest men in the land of the transparent folk, and
1:43:30
the lack of clearness indicated by their names had referenced solely to their eyes.
1:43:34
Now, as you know, the learned men of our upper world have a
1:43:38
different look from ordinary folk. They are stoop shouldered, shaggy, eyebrowed,
1:43:43
long haired, purse lived, near sighted, shambling gated. Well, the
1:43:47
only effect that long years of deep study had upon the Micamenkes was to rob
1:43:53
their beautiful, crystal like eyes of more or less their clearness. Now I
1:43:58
think you'll understand why these three Leernard Micamenke's were named as they were. At
1:44:01
any rate, they were, in spite of their strange names, three most
1:44:04
charming gentlemen, And no matter how many times I might ask the same question
1:44:09
over again, they were always ready with an answer quite as polite as the
1:44:13
one first given me. They did everything that I had a right possibly to
1:44:16
expect them to do. Indeed, there was but one single thing which I
1:44:20
would have fain had them do, and that was to let me look through
1:44:25
them. This they most carefully avoided doing. And no matter how warmed up
1:44:29
they might become in their descriptions, and no matter how on the alert I
1:44:32
was to catch the coveted peep, the inevitable black fan was always in the
1:44:38
way. Naturally, not only they, but all the transparent folk felt a
1:44:43
repugnance to have it perfect stranger looked through them, and I couldn't blame them
1:44:46
for it either. I despaired of ever giving a chance of seeing a human
1:44:49
heart beating away for dear life for all the world, just like the swinging
1:44:54
of a pendulum or the vibration of a balance wheel. End of Chapter nine.
1:45:00
Chapter ten, A brief account of my conversations with Doctor Nebulosis, Sir
1:45:05
amber Opake, and Lord Cornicor, who tell me many things that I never
1:45:10
knew before, for which I was very grateful. Lord Bulgar and I were
1:45:14
more than pleased with our new friends, Doctor Nebulosis, Sir amber Opake,
1:45:18
and Lord Cornacre, although so eager were they to make us thoroughly comfortable that
1:45:23
they overdid the matter at times and left me scarcely a moment to myself in
1:45:27
which to make an entry in my note book. They were extremely solicitous,
1:45:30
lest in my ignorance I should set down something wrong about them. For said
1:45:35
Sir amber Opake. Now that thou hast found the way to this underworld of
1:45:40
ours, little Baron, I feel assured that we shall have a number of
1:45:43
visitors from thy people every year or so, and I have already issued orders
1:45:46
to have extra beds made as soon as the wood can be quarried. Doctor
1:45:50
Nebulosis gave me a very interesting account of the various ailments which the Mcamenkes suffer
1:45:57
from. All sickness among our people, little Baron said, he is purely
1:46:00
mental or emotional, that is, of the mind or feelings. There is
1:46:04
no such thing as bodily infirmity among us. Wine and strung drink are unknown
1:46:09
in our world, and the food we eat is light and easily digested.
1:46:13
We are never exposed to the danger of breathing a dust lighten atmosphere. And
1:46:16
while we are an active and industrious people, yet we sleep a great deal.
1:46:20
For as our laws forbid the use of lamps or torches, except for
1:46:25
the use of those toiling in the dark chambers, it is not possible for
1:46:28
us to ruin our health by turning night into day. We go to bed
1:46:31
the very moment the river of light ceases to flow the only ailment that ever
1:46:36
gives me the least trouble is I bury euphrozenian pray. What is the nature
1:46:43
of that ailment? I asked. It is an inclination to be too happy,
1:46:47
replied Doctor Nebulosis gravely. And I regret to say that several of our
1:46:53
people attacked with this ailiment have shortened their lives by refusing to take my remedies.
1:46:57
It usually develops very slowly, beginning with an inclination to giggle, which
1:47:01
after a while is succeeded by violent fits of laughter. For instance, Little
1:47:06
Baron, when thou earnest among us, many of our people were attacked with
1:47:10
a violent form of I bary euphrozna. And although Master Cold Soul, the
1:47:15
Court Depressor, made great efforts to check it, that he was quite powerless
1:47:18
to do so. It spread over the city with remarkable rapidity. Without knowing
1:47:24
why, our workmen at their work, our children at their play, our
1:47:27
people indoors and out began to laugh and to be dangerously happy. I made
1:47:30
examinations of several of the worst cases, and discovered that at the rate they
1:47:35
were beating, the hearts of most of them would run down in a single
1:47:39
week. It was terrible. A council was hastily held, and it was
1:47:45
determined to conceal thee and Lord Bulgar from the public view. But happily my
1:47:48
skill got the upper hand of the attack. Didst increase the number of pills
1:47:53
to be taken? I asked, no, little Baron, said doctor Nebulosis.
1:47:58
I increased their side and covered them with a dry powder, which made
1:48:01
them extremely difficult to swallow, and in this way compelled those taking them to
1:48:06
seize their laughing. But there were a number of cases so violent that they
1:48:11
could not be cured in this way. Those I ordered to be strapped in
1:48:15
at the waist with broad belts, and to have their mouths held pride open
1:48:18
with wooden wedges. As thou mayest understand, this made laughing so difficult that
1:48:24
they speedily gave it up altogether. Ah, little baron, continued the wise
1:48:28
doctor with a sigh. That was a sorry day for the human race when
1:48:33
it learned how to laugh. It is my opinion that we owe this useless
1:48:39
agitation of our bodies to you people of the upper world. Exposed as ye
1:48:44
were, to piercing winds and biting frosts. He contracted the habit of shivering
1:48:47
to keep warm. And little by little this shivering habit grew upon you,
1:48:50
so that ye kept up the shivering, whether ye were cold or not,
1:48:54
only ye called it by another name. Now my knowledge of the human body
1:48:59
teaches me that this quivering of the flesh is a very wise provision of nature
1:49:02
to keep the blood in motion, and in this way, to save the
1:49:05
human body from perishing from the cold. But why should we quiver when we
1:49:09
are happy? Little Baron? All pleasure is the thought. And yet at
1:49:14
the very moment when we should keep our bodies in as perfect repose as possible,
1:49:17
we begin this ridiculous shivering. Do we shiver when we look upon the
1:49:21
beauties of the river of light, or listen to sweet music, or gaze
1:49:26
upon the loving countenance of our gracious Queen Alaxa. But worse than all,
1:49:30
little Baron, this senseless quivering and shivering, which we call laughter, unlike
1:49:35
good, deep, long drawn, wholesome size, empty the lungs of air
1:49:41
without filling them again. And thus do we often see these gigglers and laughers
1:49:45
fall over in fainting fits, absolutely choked by their own wild and unreasoning action.
1:49:50
I have always contended Little Baron, that we alone, of all animals,
1:49:55
had the laughing heabit. And I am now delighted to have my opinion
1:49:58
confirmed by my acquaintan with the wise and dignified Lord Bulger. Observe him.
1:50:03
He knows quite as well as we what it is to be pleased, to
1:50:06
be amused, to be delighted. But he doesn't think it necessary to have
1:50:11
recourse to fits of shivering and shuddering. Through the brightened eye, the true
1:50:15
window of the soul, I can see how happy he is. I can
1:50:19
measure his joy, I can take note of his contentment. I was delighted
1:50:26
with this learned discourse of the gentle doctor Nebulosis, and make notes of it,
1:50:30
lest the points of his argument might escape my memory. The more pleased
1:50:33
was I in that he proved my faithful Bulgar to be so wisely constructed and
1:50:39
regulated by nature. I made particular inquiry of my friends, Sir amber Opake
1:50:44
and Lord Cornercore, as to whether Queen Glaxa ever had any trouble in governing
1:50:48
her people. None, whatever, was the answer. In many a long
1:50:54
year, has it only been necessary on one or two occasions to summon a
1:50:58
Micamenke before the magic straight and examine his heart under a strong light. The
1:51:02
only punishment allowed by our laws is confinement for a shorter or longer time in
1:51:08
one of the dark chambers. The severest sentence ever known to have been passed
1:51:12
by one of our magistrates was twelve hours in length. But in all honesty,
1:51:16
we must admit, little Baron, that falsehood and deception are unknown amongst
1:51:21
us, for the simple reason that, being transparent, it is impossible for
1:51:26
a mcamenke to deceive a brother without being caught in the act. Therefore,
1:51:30
why make the attempt? The very moment one of us begins to say one
1:51:33
thing while he is thinking another, his eyes cloud up and betray him,
1:51:36
just as the crystal clear weather glass clouds up at the approach of a storm
1:51:41
in the upper world. But this, of course, little Baron, is
1:51:44
only true of our thoughts. Our laws allow us to hide our feelings by
1:51:47
the use of the black fan. No one may look upon another's heart unless
1:51:51
its owner wills it. It is a very grave offense for one micamenk to
1:51:57
look through another without that one's permission. But as yes, thou wilt readily
1:52:00
understand inasmuch as we are, by nature transparent, it is utterly impossible for
1:52:06
a marriage to prove an unhappy one, for the reason that when a youth
1:52:10
declares his love for a maiden, they both have the right by law to
1:52:14
look upon each other's hearts, and in this way they can tell exactly the
1:52:16
strength of the love they have for each other. This, and many other
1:52:20
strange and interesting things did my new friends, Doctor Nebulosis, Sir amber Opake,
1:52:26
and Lord Cornercore impart unto me? And right grateful was I to good
1:52:30
Queen Galaxa for having chosen them for me. Good friends are better than gaul
1:52:34
although we may not think it at the time. End of chapter ten,
1:52:41
Chapter eleven, pleasant days passed among the Macamckees, and wonderful things seen by
1:52:46
us the spectral garden and a description of it. Are meeting with Damoisel Blowstone,
1:52:53
and what came of it. From now on, Lord Bulgar and I
1:52:56
made ourselves perfectly at home among the Macamckees. One of the royal barges was
1:53:00
placed at our disposal, And when we grew tired of walking about and gazing
1:53:03
at the wonders of this beautiful city of the underworld. We stepped aboard our
1:53:08
barge and were rowed hither and thither on the glassy river. And if I
1:53:12
had not seen it myself, I never would have believed that any kind of
1:53:15
shell fish could ever be taught to be so obliging as to swim to the
1:53:19
surface and offer one of their huge claws for our dinner, politely dropping it
1:53:24
in our hand the moment we laid hold of it. On one of the
1:53:27
river banks, I noticed a long row of wooden compartments, looking very much
1:53:31
like a grocer's bins. But you may think how amused Vulgar and I were
1:53:35
upon coming closer to this long row of little houses to find that there were
1:53:40
turtle nests, and that quite a number of the turtles were sitting comfortably in
1:53:44
their nests, busy laying their eggs, which, let me assure you,
1:53:46
with the most dainty tidbits I ever tasted, I think I informed you that
1:53:50
the river flowing through Gaulliland was fairly swarming with delicious fish, the carp and
1:53:56
sole being particularly delicate in flavor. And knowing as I did, what a
1:54:00
tender hearted folk the Mcamenkes are, I had been not a little puzzled in
1:54:03
my mind as to how they had ever been able to summon up courage enough
1:54:08
to drive a spear into one of these fish, which were as tame and
1:54:11
playful as a lot of kittens or puppies, and followed our barge hither and
1:54:15
thither, snapping at the food we tossed to them, and leaping into the
1:54:18
air, where they glistened like burnished silver as the white lights sparkled on their
1:54:23
scales. But the mystery was solved one day when I saw one of the
1:54:27
fishermen decoying a score or more of fish into a sort of pen shut off
1:54:30
from the river by a wire netting. Scarcely had he closed the gates,
1:54:34
when, to my amazement, I saw the fish, one after the other,
1:54:39
come to the surface and float about on their sides, stone dead.
1:54:44
This little baron explained, the man in charge is the death chamber. Hidden
1:54:47
at the bottom of this dark pool lie several electric eels of great size and
1:54:51
power. And when our people went a fresh supper of fish, we simply
1:54:56
opened these gates and decoy a shoal of them inside by tossing their favorite food
1:55:00
into the water. The executioners are awaiting them and in a few instants the
1:55:04
fish, while enjoying their repast and suspecting no harm, are painlessly put to
1:55:09
death, as thou hast seen. One part of the City of the Transparent
1:55:13
Folk, which attracted Bulgar and me very much was the Royal Gardens. It
1:55:17
was a weird and uncanny place, and upon my first visit, I walked
1:55:21
through its paths and beneath its arbors, upon my toes and with bated breath,
1:55:26
as you might steal into some bit of fairyland, looking anxiously from side
1:55:30
to side, as if at every step you expected some sprite or goblin to
1:55:35
trip you up with a tough spider web, or brush your cheeks with their
1:55:39
cold and satiny wings. Now, dear friends, you must first be told
1:55:43
that, with the loss of sunshine and the open air, the flowers and
1:55:45
shrubs and vines of this underground world gradually parted with their perfumes and colors,
1:55:50
their leaves and petals and stems and tendrils, growing paler and paler in hue,
1:55:56
like lovelorn maids whose sweethearts had never come back from the war. Month
1:56:00
by month, the dark greens, the blush pinks, the golden yellows,
1:56:04
and the deep blues pined away, longing for the lost sunshine and the wooing
1:56:10
breeze they loved so dearly, until at last transformation was complete. And there
1:56:15
they all stood or hung, bleached to utter whiteness, like those fantastic clumps
1:56:19
of flowers and wreaths of vines which the feathery snow of April builds in the
1:56:24
leafless shrubs and trees. I cannot tell you, dear friends, what a
1:56:28
strange feeling came over me as I stepped within this spectral garden, where ghost
1:56:32
like vines clung in fantastic forms and figures to the dark trellises, and where
1:56:38
tall lilies whiter than the down of Eider stood bolt upright like spirits doomed to
1:56:44
eternal silence, denied even the speech of perfume, and were huge clusters of
1:56:48
snowy chrysanthemums, fluffy feathery forms seemed, pressing their soft bodies together like groups
1:56:56
of banished celestials in a sort of silent despair, as they felt the warmth
1:57:00
and glow of sunlight, slowly and gradually quitting their souls. Where lower down,
1:57:08
great roses with snowy petals whiter than the sea shells, hung motionless,
1:57:12
bursting open with eager effort, as if listening for some signal that would dissolve
1:57:16
the spell put upon them and give them back the sunshine and with it their
1:57:20
color and their perfume. Where lower still beds of violets, bleached white as
1:57:25
fleecy clouds, seemed wrapt in silent sorrow at loss of the heavenly perfume which
1:57:30
had been theirs on earth. Where above the lily's heads shot long, slender
1:57:34
spectral stalks of sunflowers, almost invisible, loaded at their ends with clusters of
1:57:40
snowy flowers, thus suspended like white faces, looking down through the silent air
1:57:44
and waiting, waiting for the sunshine that never came. And higher still,
1:57:48
all over and above these spectral flowers entwining and in wrapping and falling. Festooned
1:57:54
and garland ways crept and ran like unto long loines of escaping phantoms, ghostly
1:57:59
vianes, with ghostly blossoms, bent and twisted and wrapped and coiled into a
1:58:03
thousand strange and fantastic forms and figures which the white light, with its inky
1:58:09
shadows made alive and half human, so that movement and voice alone were needful
1:58:14
to make this garden seem peopled with sorrowing sprites, banished to these subterranean chambers
1:58:18
for strange misdeeds done on earth, and condemned to wait ten thousand years ere
1:58:24
sunlight and their color and their perfume should be given back to them again.
1:58:29
While strolling through the Royal gardens one day, Bulgar suddenly gave a low cry
1:58:32
and bounded on ahead, as if his eyes had fallen upon the familiar form
1:58:36
of some dear friend. When I came up with him, he was crouching
1:58:40
beside the damosel Glowstone, who seated on one of the garden benches, was
1:58:44
caressing Bulgar's head and ears with one of her soft hands with its filmy like
1:58:48
skin, while the other held its black fan press tightly against her bosom.
1:58:53
She looked up at me with her crystal eyes and smiled faintly. As I
1:58:57
drew near lusiest little baron, she murmured, Lord Bulgar and I have not
1:59:01
forgotten each other since our presentation at court. I had been going through and
1:59:05
through my mind in search of some reason for Bulgar's sudden affection for Damosel glowstone,
1:59:11
but had found none. I was the more perplexed as she was,
1:59:15
but the maid of honor, while the fair Princess Cristelina sat on the very
1:59:18
steps of the throne. But I said nothing save to reply that I was
1:59:23
greatly pleased to see it, and to add that where Bulgar's love went,
1:59:26
mine was sure to follow, O, little Baron, if I could but
1:59:30
believe that sighed the fair Damosel, thou mayst, said I. Indeed,
1:59:34
thou mayst. Then if I may, little Baron, she replied, I
1:59:39
will, and prithee come and sit beside me here only till I bid thee
1:59:43
look not through me. Dost promise I do, fair Damosel, was my
1:59:47
answer. And thou Lord Bulgar, lie there at my feet, she continued,
1:59:53
And keep thy wise eyes fixed upon me in thy keen ears wide open,
1:59:58
Little Baron, If both mine in our worlds were filled with sorrowing hearts,
2:00:02
mine would be the heaviest of them all. Listen, all, listen
2:00:06
to the sad, sad tale of the sorrowing maid with a speck in her
2:00:11
heart. And when thou knowest all, give me of thy wisdom. End
2:00:15
of chapter eleven. Chapter twelve, The sad, sad Tale of the Sorrowing
2:00:24
Princess with a speck in her heart, and what all happened when she had
2:00:28
ended it, which the reader must read for himself. Little Baron and dear
2:00:32
Lord Bulgar began the crystal eyed Damosel, after she had eased her soul of
2:00:38
its load of woe by three long and deep, deep sighs. Know then,
2:00:44
that I am not the Damosel Glowstone, but none other than the Royal
2:00:47
Princess Cristelina herself, That she whose hair I comb should comb, mine,
2:00:54
that she whom I have served for ten long years, should have served me.
2:01:00
And to think, o, Princess, I burst out joyfully, that
2:01:02
my beloved Bulgar should have been the first to discover that she, who was
2:01:05
seated on the steps of the crystal throne, was not entitled to the seat.
2:01:10
To think that his subtle intellect should have been the first to scent out
2:01:15
the wrong that had been done thee his keen eye, the first to go
2:01:17
to the bottom of the truths. Well, but, fair Princess, I
2:01:21
am bursting with impatience to know how thou thyself did ever discover the wrong that
2:01:27
has been done thee that thou shalt speedily know, little Baron, answered Cristelina,
2:01:32
And that thou mayest know all that I know. I'll begin at the
2:01:36
very beginning. The day I was born. There was great rejoicing in the
2:01:41
land of the Micamenkes, and the people gathered in front of the royal palace
2:01:45
and laughed and cried by turns. So happy were they to think they were
2:01:49
to be governed by another princess, after Queen Galaxi's heart should run down.
2:01:55
For many years ago, a bad king had made them very unhappy, and
2:02:00
they had hoped and prayed that no more such would come to reign over them.
2:02:04
And pretty soon one of them began to tell the others what he thought
2:02:08
the little princess would be like. She will be the fairest that ever sat
2:02:12
upon the crystal throne. Her hands and feet will be like pearls tipped with
2:02:15
coral, her hair whiter than the river's foam. And from her beautiful eyes
2:02:19
will burst the radiance of her pure soul. And her heart, Oh,
2:02:24
her heart will be like a little lump of frozen water, So clear and
2:02:28
so transparent. Will it be, so like a bit of purest crystal,
2:02:31
bright and flawless as a diamond of the first water. And therefore let her
2:02:35
be called the Princess Cristellina, or the maid with the crystal heart. Forthwith
2:02:41
the cry went up, I let her be called Cristellina, or the Maid
2:02:45
with the crystal heart. And Queen Glaxa heard the cry of her people and
2:02:48
sent them word that it should be as they wished, that I should be
2:02:53
the Princess Cristallina, but ah me that I should have lived to tell it.
2:02:58
After a few days, the nurse came to my royal mother, wringing
2:03:01
her hands and pouring down a flood of tears. Throwing herself on her knee,
2:03:08
she whispered to the Queen Royal Mistress, bid me die rather than tell
2:03:12
thee what I know. Being ordered to speak, the nurse informed Queen Galaxa
2:03:16
that she had that day, for the first time, held me up to
2:03:19
the light, and had discovered that there was a spat in my heart.
2:03:26
The Queen uttered a cry of horror and swoon. When she came to herself.
2:03:30
She directed that I should be brought to her and held up to the
2:03:32
light, so that she might see for herself. Alas too true. There
2:03:39
was a speck in my heart. Sure enough I was not worthy of the
2:03:42
sweet name which her loving people had bestowed upon me. They would turn from
2:03:46
me with horror. They would never consent to have me for their queen when
2:03:50
the truth should become known. They would not be moved by a mother's prayers.
2:03:56
They would turn a deaf ear to every one who should be bold enough
2:03:59
to advise them to accept a princess with a speck in her heart when they
2:04:03
had thought they were getting one well deserving of the title they had bestowed upon
2:04:09
her. Queen Glaxa knew that something must be done at once, that it
2:04:13
would be time and labor lost to attempt to reason with the disappointed people,
2:04:18
so she set to work thinking up some way out of her trouble. Now,
2:04:21
it so happened Little Baron that the very day I had come into the
2:04:27
world, a babe had been born to one of Queen Galaxa's serving women,
2:04:30
And so hastily summing the woman, she ordered her to bring her babe into
2:04:34
the royal bedchamber and leave it there, promising that it should be brought up
2:04:39
as my foster sister. But no sooner had the serving woman gone her way
2:04:45
rejoicing, than the nurse was ordered to change the children in the cradle,
2:04:49
and in a few moments Glowstone was wrapped in my richly embroidered blanket, and
2:04:56
eyes swathed up in her plain coverlets. How things went for several years I
2:05:01
know not, But one day a how well I recollect it, my little
2:05:06
mind was puzzled by hearing Cristelina cry out, nay, nay, Dermomma,
2:05:13
tis not fair. I like it not. Each day when thou comest to
2:05:15
us, thou givest clothes down, ten kisses, and me but single one.
2:05:19
Then would Queen Galaxa smile a sad smile, and bestow some babble upon
2:05:25
Christelina to coax her back to contentment again. And so we went on,
2:05:30
Cristelina and I, from one year to another, until we were little maids
2:05:34
well grown, and she sat on the throne and wore royal purple stitched with
2:05:40
gold, and I plain white. But still most of the kisses fell to
2:05:45
my share, and I marveled not a little at it, but dared not
2:05:49
ask why it was. However, once when I was alone with waining,
2:05:55
Galaxa seated on my cushion in the corner, blind my needle, and thinking
2:05:59
of this sail we were to have on the river that day. Suddenly I
2:06:03
was startled to see the Queen throw herself on her knees in front of me,
2:06:09
and to feel her clasp me in her arms and cover my face and
2:06:13
head with tears and kisses, as she sobbed and moaned, Oh, my
2:06:16
babe, my lost babe, my blessing, and my joy wilt never never
2:06:24
never come back to me, art gone forever? Must I give THEE up?
2:06:30
Oh must I nay, royal lady, I stammered in my more than
2:06:34
wonder at her words and actions. Thou art in a dream, Awake and
2:06:39
see clearly I am not crystalline. I am glowstone, thy foster child.
2:06:44
I'll hie me straight and bring my royal sister to THEE. But she would
2:06:48
not let me loose, and for all answer showered more kisses on me till
2:06:53
I was well nigh smothered, so tight she held me pressed against her bosom,
2:06:58
while around and o'er me, her long thick tresses fell like a woven
2:07:02
mantle. And then she told me all all that I have told THEE little
2:07:08
Maren and charged me never to impart it undo any soul in goggleland. And
2:07:14
I made a solemn promise unto her that I never would, And thou hast
2:07:17
kept thy word like a true princess, as thou art said, I cheerily,
2:07:20
for I am not of thy world. Fair Cristellina, Now that I
2:07:26
have told these a sad tale of the sorrowing princess with a speck in her
2:07:30
heart, little Parin, murmured Cristelina, fixing her large and radiant eyes upon
2:07:34
me. There is but one thing more for me to do, and it
2:07:38
is to let thee look through me, so that thou mayest know exactly what
2:07:43
counsel to give. And so saying, the fair princess rose from her seat,
2:07:47
and, having placed herself in front of me, with a flood of
2:07:50
white light falling full upon her back, she lowered her black fan and bade
2:07:56
me gaze upon the heavy heart which she had carried about with her all those
2:08:00
years, and tell her exactly how large the speck was, and where it
2:08:03
lay, and what color it was. I was overjoyed to get an opportunity
2:08:09
at last to look through one of the micaminky's and my own heart bounded with
2:08:13
satisfaction as I looked and looked upon that mysterious little thing, nay rather a
2:08:18
tiny bean, living breathing, palpitating within her breast, now slow and measured
2:08:24
as she dwelt in thought upon her sad fate, now beating faster and faster,
2:08:28
as the hope bubbled up in her mind, that possibly I might be
2:08:31
able to counsel her so wisely that an end would come to all her sorrow.
2:08:37
Well, wise, little Baron, she murmured, anxiously, what seest
2:08:41
thou? Is it very large? In what part is it? Is it
2:08:43
black as night or some color less fatal Take courage, fair Princess, said
2:08:50
I, it is very small, and lies just beneath the bow on the
2:08:52
left side. Nor is it black but reddish? Rather, And if a
2:08:56
single drop of blood from the veins of thy far distant ancestors had outlived them
2:09:01
these thousands of years and hardened there to tell whence thy people came, the
2:09:07
princess wept tears of joy upon hearing these comforting words. If it had been
2:09:11
black, she whispered, I would have laid me down in this bed of
2:09:15
violets and never risen more till my people had come to bear me to my
2:09:20
grave in the silent burial chamber, unvisited by the river of light. At
2:09:24
this sad outbreak, Bulgar whined piteously and licked the Princess's hands as he looked
2:09:31
up at her with his dark eyes radiant with sympathy. She was greatly cheered
2:09:35
by this message of comfort, and it moved me too by its heartiness.
2:09:39
List fair Princess, said I gravely, I own the task is not a
2:09:43
little one, but hope for the best. I would that we had more
2:09:46
time, But as thou knowest, Queen Galax's heart will soon run down.
2:09:52
Therefore must we act with despatch as well as wisdom. But first of all,
2:09:56
must I speak with the Queen and gain her consent to act for THEE
2:09:58
in this matter that I fear she will never grant, moaned Cristelina. However,
2:10:05
thou art so much wiser than I do, as best seems to THEE.
2:10:09
The next thing to be done, fair Princess, I added, solemnly,
2:10:13
is to show thy heart boldly and fearlessly to thy people. Nay,
2:10:16
little baron, she exclaimed, rising to her feet. That may not be,
2:10:20
that may not be for know that our law doth make it trees in
2:10:24
itself for one of our people to look through a person of royal blood.
2:10:28
Oh no, oh, no, little baron, that may never be.
2:10:31
Stay, sweet Princess, I urged in gentlest tones. Not so fast thou
2:10:37
dost not know what I mean by showing thy heart boldly to thy people.
2:10:41
Never fear, I will not break the law of the land. And yet
2:10:43
they shall look upon the speck within thy heart and see how small it is,
2:10:48
and hear what I have to say about it, and thou shalt not
2:10:52
even be visible to them, Oh, little baron, murmured Cristellina. If
2:10:56
this may only be, I feel they will give me. Thou art so
2:11:01
wise, and thy words carry such strong hope to my poor heavy heart,
2:11:05
that I almost nay, Fair Princess, I interrupted hope for the best.
2:11:11
No more. I am not wise enough to read the future, and from
2:11:15
what I know of thy people they seem but little different from mine own.
2:11:20
Perchance I may be able to sway them toward my views and make them cry
2:11:24
long Live Princess Cristallina. But I can only promise THEE to do my best.
2:11:30
Betake THEE now to the palace and scorn not for yet a day or
2:11:33
so to take up the golden comb and play the damosel glowstone in all humility.
2:11:41
End of Chapter twelve. Chapter thirteen. How I set to work to
2:11:46
undo a wrong that had been done in the Kingdom of the Micaminks, and
2:11:50
how Vulgar helped Queen Galaxi's confection. I am created Prime Minister as long as
2:11:56
she lives. What took place in the throne room, my speech to the
2:12:01
men of Goggleland, after which I showed them something worth seeing. How I
2:12:05
was pulled in two different directions, and what came of it. The first
2:12:09
thing I did after the genuine Princess Cristelina had left me was to seek out
2:12:15
doctor Nebulosis and learn from him the exact number of hours before the Queen's heart
2:12:20
would run down. As he had just been making an examination, he was
2:12:24
able to tell me the very minute. It was seventeen hours and thirteen minutes.
2:12:28
Rather a short time, you must confess, dear friends, in which
2:12:33
to accomplish such an important piece of business as I had in mind. I
2:12:37
then made my way directly to the Royal Palace and demanded a private audience with
2:12:41
the Lady of the Crystal Throne. With the advice of Sir amber Opake and
2:12:46
Lord Krncore, she firmly but graciously refused to receive me, giving as an
2:12:50
excuse that the excitement that would be sure to follow an interview with the man
2:12:54
of coal so the Micamikis had named me, would shorten her life at least
2:12:58
thirteen minutes. But I was not to be put off in so unceremonious a
2:13:03
manner. Sitting down, I seized a pen and wrote the following words upon
2:13:07
a piece of glazed silk to Galaxa, Queen of the Macamenk's, Lady of
2:13:13
the Crystal Throne. I Lord Bulgar, a Micamenkian, noble bearer of this
2:13:18
who was the first to discover that the real princess was not sitting on the
2:13:22
steps of the Crystal Throne, demanded an audience from mad Master Baron Sebastian von
2:13:26
Trump, commonly known as the Little Baron, And prompted by him, I
2:13:30
ask, what are thirteen minutes of thy life, o, Queen Galaxa,
2:13:33
to the long years of sorrow and disappointment in store for thy royal child.
2:13:39
Taking this letter in his mouth, Bulgar sprang away with long and rapid bounds.
2:13:43
In a few minutes he was in the presence of the Queen, for
2:13:46
the guards had fallen back, affrightened as they saw him draw near, with
2:13:50
his dark eyes flashing indignation. Raising himself upon his hind feet, he laid
2:13:56
the letter in Galaxa's hands. The moment she had read it, she fell
2:13:58
into a s swoon, and all was a stir and commotion in and round
2:14:03
about the palace. I was hastily summoned, and the audience chamber cleared of
2:14:07
every attendant save doctor Nebulosis, Sir amber Opake, Lord Corncore, Lord Bulgar,
2:14:13
and me. Send for the Demoiselle, Glowstone, commanded the Queen,
2:14:18
And when she had appeared, to the amazement of all, saving Bulgar and
2:14:22
me, glax obeyed her mount the steps of the crystal throne. Then,
2:14:26
having embraced her most tenderly, the Queen spoke these words, oh, faithful
2:14:31
counselors and wise friends from the upper world, this is the real Princess Cristelina,
2:14:35
whom I have for all these years wickedly and wrongfully kept from her high
2:14:41
state and royal privileges. She was born with a speck in her heart,
2:14:46
and I feared that it would be useless to ask my people to accept her
2:14:48
as my successor, Oh Lady of the Crystal Throne, exclaimed Lord cornericor thou
2:14:56
hast wisely done. Thy people would never have received her as Princess Cristelina,
2:15:00
for being, by the laws of our land, denied the privilege to look
2:15:03
for themselves. They never would have believed that this spot in the Princess's heart
2:15:07
was but a tiny speck, like a single hair crystal in the arm of
2:15:11
thy magnificent throne. Therefore, O Queen, we counsel thee not to embitter
2:15:16
thy last hours by differences with thy loving subjects. My Lord Cornucore, said
2:15:22
I, with a low bow, I make bold to raise my voice against
2:15:26
thine and crave permission from Queen Galaxa to parley with her people. Forbid it,
2:15:31
ry lady, cried Sir amber opaqu savagely, at which Bulgar gave a
2:15:35
low growl and showed his teeth. Queen Galaxa, I added gravely, A
2:15:41
wrong confessed is half redressed. This fair princess tis true. Hath I speckon
2:15:46
her heart, which ill accords with the name bestowed upon her by thy people.
2:15:50
Bid me be master, and till thy heart run down, and by
2:15:54
the knighthood of all the trumps. I promised thee that thou shalt have three
2:15:58
hours of happiness. Ere thy royal heart as ceased to beat. Be it
2:16:03
so, little Baron, exclaimed Galaxa joyfully, I proclaimed the prime Minister for
2:16:09
the rest of my life. At these words, Bulgar broke out into a
2:16:13
series of glad barks, and, raising upon his hind legs, licked the
2:16:18
Queen's hand in token of his gratitude, while the fair princess looked a love
2:16:22
at me that was too deep to put into words. I had now but
2:16:26
a few hours to act. The excitement, so doctor Nebulosis assured me,
2:16:31
would shorten the Queen's life a full hour. It had always been my custom
2:16:35
to carry about with me a small but excellent magnifying glass, a double convex
2:16:39
lens, for the purpose of making examinations of minute objects, and also for
2:16:45
reading inscriptions too thine to be seen with the naked eye. Hastily summing a
2:16:50
skillful metal worker, I instructed him to set the lens in a short tube
2:16:54
and to enclose that tube within another, so that I could lengthen it at
2:16:58
my pleasure. Then, having called together as many of the headmen of the
2:17:01
nation as the Throne Room would hold, I requested Lord Coronicor to inform them
2:17:05
of the confession which Queen Galaxa had made, namely that in reality, Damoiselle
2:17:11
Glowstone was Princess Christelina, and Princess Cristelina was Damoisel Glowstone. They were stricken
2:17:18
speechless by this piece of information. But when Lord Cornicor went on to tell
2:17:24
the whole story and to explain to them why the Queen had practiced this deception
2:17:28
upon them, they broke out into the wildest lamentation, rejecting it over and
2:17:33
over again in piteous tones. A spec in her heart, a speck in
2:17:39
her heart, O dire misfortune, a woeful day. She can never be
2:17:43
our princess if she hath I speck in her heart. By this time my
2:17:46
arrangements were complete. I had placed the Princess Cristellina just outside the door of
2:17:52
the throne Room, where she stood concealed behind the thick hangings, and near
2:17:56
her I had stationed doctor Nebulosis with a large circular mirror of burnished silver in
2:18:01
his hand, calling out in a loud voice for silence. I thus addressed
2:18:05
the weeping subjects of Queen Galaxa. Oh Micamenke's, Men of Goggleland, transparent
2:18:11
folk, I count myself most happy to be among you at this hour,
2:18:15
and to be permitted by your gracious Queen to raise my voice in defense of
2:18:18
the unfortunate princess with a speck in her heart. Being of noble birth and
2:18:24
an inhabitant of another world, it was lawful for me to look through the
2:18:28
sorrowing princess, and I have done it. Yes, Micamenk's, I have
2:18:31
gazed upon her heart. I have seen the speck within it. Give ear
2:18:35
men of Goggleland, and you shall know how that speck came there. For
2:18:39
it is not, as you doubtless think, a cold black spot within that
2:18:43
fair enclosure, clearer than the columns of Galaxa's throne. Oh no, Micamenk's
2:18:48
a thousand times no, it is a tiny blemish of reddish hue, a
2:18:52
drop of princely blood from the upper world which I inhabit. And this drop,
2:18:58
in all these countless centuries, has coursed through the veins of a thousand
2:19:01
kings, and still kept its rosy at glow, still remembered the glorious sunshine
2:19:07
which called it into being. And now, men of Goggleland, lest you
2:19:11
think that for some dark purpose of mine own, I speak other than the
2:19:15
pure and sober truth, behold, I show you the fair Crystallina's heart in
2:19:20
its very life and being as it is, beating and throbbing, with hope
2:19:24
and fear commingled. Look and judge for yourselves. And with this I signaled
2:19:30
to those on the outside of the palace to carry out my instructions. In
2:19:33
an instant, the thick curtains were drawn and the throne room was wrapped in
2:19:39
darkness. And at the same moment Doctor Nebulosis, with his mirror, caught
2:19:43
the strong white rays of light and threw them upon Crystallina's body, while I,
2:19:48
through an opening in the hangings, made haste to apply the tube to
2:19:52
which the lens had been fitted, and, catching the reflected image of her
2:19:56
heart, threw it up in plain and startling view upon the opposite wall of
2:20:00
the throne room. Upon seeing how small the speck was and how truthfully I
2:20:05
had described it, the micamenkees fell a weeping for purest joy, And then,
2:20:09
as if with one voice, they burst out, long live the fair
2:20:13
Princess Cristellina with the ruby speck in her heart, and ten thousand blessings on
2:20:18
the head of little Baron Trump and Lord Bulgar for saving our land from cruel
2:20:22
dissensions. The people on the outside took up the cry, and in a
2:20:26
few moments the whole city was thronged with bands of Queen galaxis subjects, singing
2:20:31
and dancing and telling of their love for the fair Princess with the ruby speck
2:20:35
in her heart. I had kept my word, Queen Galaxa, would have
2:20:39
at least three hours of complete happiness. Ere her heart ran down. But
2:20:43
suddenly the river of light began to flicker and dim, its flood of brilliant
2:20:48
white rays. Nights was coming noiselessly, as if by magic. The micamenks
2:20:52
faded from my sight, stealing away in search of beds, And as the
2:20:56
gloom crept into the great Throne room, some one plucked me gently by the
2:21:01
hand, and a soft voice whispered, I love I love THEE. Oh,
2:21:05
who other than I can tell how I love THEE? And then a
2:21:09
grip stronger than the gentle hands seized me by the skirt of my coat and
2:21:13
dragged me away, slowly but surely, away through the darkness, through the
2:21:16
gloom, out into the silent streets, ever away, until at last that
2:21:22
soft voice, choking with a sob seized its pleading and gasps, farewell,
2:21:28
Oh, farewell, I dare go no farther, And so Bulgar, in
2:21:33
his wisdom, led me on and ever on out of the city of the
2:21:35
Mcamenkes, out upon the Marble Highway. End of chapter thirteen, Chapter fourteen,
2:21:46
Bulgar and I turn our backs on the fair domain of Queen Cristallina,
2:21:50
Nature's wonderful Speaking to Cristallina's attempt to turn us back, how I kept Bulgar
2:21:56
from yielding some incidents of our along the marble Highway, and how we came
2:22:03
to the glorious gateway of solid silver. Me the sorrowing Sebastian, loaded with
2:22:09
as heavy a heart as ever in mortal of my size, had borne away
2:22:13
with him. Did the wise Bulgar lead along the broad and silent highway farther
2:22:18
and yet farther from the city of the Micamenks, until at last the music
2:22:22
of the fountains pattering in their crystal basins, died away in the distance,
2:22:26
and the darkness far behind me. I felt that my wise little brother was
2:22:31
right, and so I followed on after, with not a sigh or a
2:22:33
syllable to stay in. But he halted at last, and as I felt
2:22:39
about me, I discovered that I was standing beside one of the richly carved
2:22:41
seats that one so often meets with along the marble highway. I was quite
2:22:48
as foot weary as I was heart heavy, and reaching out I touched the
2:22:52
spring, which I knew would transform the seat into a bed, and clambering
2:22:56
upon it, with my wise bulgar nestled beside me, I soon fell into
2:22:58
a deep and refreshing sleep. When I awoke, and sitting up, looked
2:23:03
back toward Queen Cristallina's capital, I could see the river of light pouring down
2:23:09
its flood of white rays far away in the distance, but only a faint
2:23:13
reflection came out to where we had passed the night. And then I knew
2:23:16
that my faithful companion had led me to the very uttermost limits of the Micamenki
2:23:22
domain before he had halted. Yes, sure enough, for as I raised
2:23:28
my eyes, there Towering above the bed stood the slender crystal column which marked
2:23:31
the end of goggle Land, And upon its face I read the extract from
2:23:35
a royal decree forbidding Amcaminkey to overstep this limit under pain of incurring the Queen's
2:23:41
most serious displeasure. Before me was darkness and uncertainty. Behind me lay the
2:23:46
fair kingdom of the transparent folk. Yet in sight lighted up like a long
2:23:52
line of happy homes, in which the fires were blazing bright and warm on
2:23:56
the hearthstones. Did I turn back? Did I hesitate? No? I
2:24:01
could see a pair of speaking eyes fixed upon me, and I could hear
2:24:03
a low whine of impatience, coaxing me along. Stooping down, I fastened
2:24:07
a bit of silken cord taken from the bed to Bulger's collar, and bade
2:24:11
him lead the way. It was a long while before the light of Queen
2:24:15
Cristallina's city faded away entirely, And even when it ceased to be of any
2:24:20
service in making known to me the grandeur and beauty of the vast underground passage,
2:24:24
I could still see it glitter like a silver star, away away behind
2:24:28
me. But it disappeared at last, and then I felt that I had
2:24:33
parted forever with the dear little princess with the speck in her heart. Bulger
2:24:37
didn't seem to have the slightest difficulty in keeping in the center of the marble
2:24:41
highway, and never allowed the leading string to slack up for a moment.
2:24:46
However, it was by no means a tramp through utter darkness, for the
2:24:50
lizards of which I have already spoken, aroused by the sound of my footfalls,
2:24:54
snapped their tails and lighted up their tiny flashed torches in eager attempts to
2:24:58
discover whence the no proceeded and what sort of a being it was that had
2:25:03
invaded their silent domains. We had covered possibly two leagues when suddenly a low
2:25:07
and mysterious voice, as soft and gentle as if it had dropped from the
2:25:11
clear, starry heavens of my own beautiful world, reached my ear Sebastion Sebastian,
2:25:18
it murmured. Before I could stop to think, I uttered a cry
2:25:22
of wonder, and the noise of my voice seemed to awake ten thousand of
2:25:26
the tiny living flashlights inhabiting the cracks and crevices of a vast arched corridor,
2:25:31
flooding it for a moment or so with a soft and rosy at radiance,
2:25:35
Sebastion. Sebastion again murmured the mellow, an echo like voice coming from the
2:25:43
very walls of rock beside me, hastily drawing near to the spot, whence
2:25:46
the words seemed to come. I laid my ear against the smooth face of
2:25:50
the rock. Again, the same soft, sighing voice pronounced my name so
2:25:56
clearly and so close beside me, that I reached out to grasp Cristelina's hand,
2:26:01
for hers was the voice, the same low, sweet voice that had
2:26:05
told me of her sorrow in the spectral garden, But there was no one
2:26:07
there. In reaching out, however, I had passed my left hand along
2:26:11
the face of the wall, and it had marked the presence of a round,
2:26:16
smooth opening in its rock face, and opening about the size of a
2:26:20
rain water pipe in the upper world. Instantly it flashed upon my mind that
2:26:24
through some whim of nature, this opening extended for leagues back towards the city
2:26:30
of the Macaminckys, through the miles of solid rock, and opened in the
2:26:35
very throne room of the Princess Cristelina, Yes, I was right. For
2:26:39
after a moment or so again, the same low, sweet voice came through
2:26:43
the speaking tube of nature's own making and fell upon my ear. I waited
2:26:48
until it had ceased, and setting my mouth in front of the opening,
2:26:50
I murmured, in strong but gentle tones, Farewell, dear Princess Cristelina.
2:26:56
Vulgar and the little baron both bid thee a long farewell, and then,
2:27:00
raising Bulgar in my arms, I bade him weep for his royal friend,
2:27:03
whom he would never see again. He gave a long, low, piteous
2:27:07
cry, half whine, half howl, and then I listened for Cristellina's voice.
2:27:11
It was not long in coming. Farewell, dear Bulgar, Farewell dear
2:27:18
Sebastian. Christallina will never forget you until her poor heart with the speck and
2:27:24
it runs down, and the crystal throne knows her no more. Poor Bulgar,
2:27:31
it now became my turn to tear him from this spot, for Cristelina's
2:27:35
voice, sounding thus unexpectedly in his ears, had aroused all the deep affection
2:27:39
which he had so ruthlessly smothered in order to bring his little master to his
2:27:43
senses and freed him from the charm of Cristallina's grace and beauty. But in
2:27:48
vain, all my strength, all my entreaties, were powerless to move him
2:27:52
from the place. Evidently Cristelina had heard me pleading with Bulgar, and had
2:27:58
imagined that I now would waver and stand irresolute. He dear Bulger's prayer,
2:28:03
Oh beloved, She pleaded and turned back, turned back to thy disconsolate Cristellina,
2:28:09
whom thou madest so happy for a brief moment, turn back or turn
2:28:13
back. Bulger now began to whine and cry most piteously. I felt that
2:28:18
something must be done at once, or the most direful consequences might ensue that
2:28:22
Bulgar, crazed by the sweet tones of Crystallina's voice, might break away from
2:28:28
me and dart away in mad race, back to the city of the Micaminkey's,
2:28:31
back to the fair young Queen of the Crystal Throne. It became necessary
2:28:37
for me to resort to trick an artifice to save my dear little brother from
2:28:41
his own loving heart. Drawing his head up against my body and covering his
2:28:46
eyes with my left arm, I quickly unloosened my neckerchief, and thrusting it
2:28:52
into this wonderful speaking tube, closed it effectively, And thus I saved my
2:28:58
faithful bulger from himself. Thus I closed his ears to the music of Crystallina's
2:29:03
voice. But it was not until after a good hour's waiting, that he
2:29:07
could bring himself to believe that his beloved friend would speak no more. After
2:29:13
several hours more of journeying along the marble highway, a speck of light caught
2:29:16
my eye far on ahead, and I redoubled my pace to reach it quickly.
2:29:20
I was soon rewarded for my trouble by injuring a wonderful chamber, circular
2:29:26
in form with a domed roof. In the center of this fair temple of
2:29:30
the underground world sprang a glorious fountain with a mighty rush of waters, which
2:29:35
brought with them such a phosphorescence that this vast round chamber was lighted up with
2:29:39
a pale yellow light, in which the countless crystals of the roof and sides
2:29:45
sparkled magnificently. Here we passed the night are what I called the night,
2:29:50
refreshing ourselves with food which I had brought from the Kingdom of the mccamenkes and
2:29:54
drinking and bathing in the wonderful fountain, which leaped into the air with a
2:29:58
rush and a whir, and filled it with a strange and fitful radiance.
2:30:03
Upon awaking, both Bulgar and I felt greatly refreshed, both in body and
2:30:07
mind, and we made haste to seek out the lofty portal opening upon the
2:30:11
Marble Highway, and were soon trudging along it again. Hour after hour.
2:30:16
We kept on our feet, for something told me that we could not be
2:30:20
far away from the confines of some other domain of this world within a world.
2:30:24
And this inward prompting of mine proved to be correct, for Bulgar suddenly
2:30:28
gave a joyful bark and began to caper about, as much as to say,
2:30:31
O, little Master, if thou only hutst make consent, thou wouldst
2:30:35
know that wert drawn near to human habitations of some kind. Sure Enough,
2:30:41
in a few moments, a faint light came creeping in beneath the mighty arches
2:30:45
of the broad corridor, and every incident gathered in strength, until now I
2:30:48
could see clearly about me. And then all of a sudden I caught sight
2:30:52
of the source of this shy and unsteady light. There in front of me
2:30:56
towered two gigantic candelabra, carved and chased and polished silver, both crowned with
2:31:01
a hundred lights, one on each side of the marble highway. Not the
2:31:05
dull, soft flames of oil or wax, but the white tongues of fire
2:31:09
produced by ignited gas escaping from the chemist's retort. It was marvelous. It
2:31:15
was magnificent. And I stood looking up at these great clusters of tongues of
2:31:18
flames, spell bound by the glorious illumination. Thus set in silent majesty at
2:31:24
this gateway to some city of the underworld. Bulgar's warning growl brought me to
2:31:28
myself. But I must end this chapter here, dear friends, and halt
2:31:33
to collect my thoughts before I proceed to tell you what I saw after passing
2:31:37
this glorious gateway illumined by these two gigantic candelabra of solid silver. End of
2:31:45
chapter fourteen. Chapter fifteen. The guards at the silver gateway, What they
2:31:52
were like our reception by them, I make a wonderful discovery the world's first
2:31:56
telephone. Bulgar and I succeed in in friends with these strangers a brief description
2:32:03
of the pseudopsies, that is, make believe eyes, or the former folk,
2:32:07
that is, aunt people, how a blind man may read your writing?
2:32:13
O, Great don Fu, Master of all masters, What do I
2:32:16
not owe THEE for having made known unto me the existence of this wonderful world
2:32:20
within a world? Would that I had been a worker in metal, I
2:32:24
would not have passed the glorious portal at which I had halted, without having
2:32:28
set in deep daglio upon its silver columns the full name of the most glorious
2:32:33
scholar whom the world has ever known. Vulgar had warned me that this gateway
2:32:37
was guarded, and therefore I entered it cautiously, taking care to peer into
2:32:43
the dark corners, lest I might be a target for some invisible enemy to
2:32:46
hurl a weapon. No sooner had I passed the gateway, than three curious
2:32:50
little beings of about my own height threw themselves swiftly and silently across the pathway.
2:32:56
They wore short jackets, knee breeches, and legging reaching to their ankles,
2:33:01
but no hats or shoes, and their clothes were profusely decorated with beautiful
2:33:05
silver buttons. Their hands and feet and heads seemed much too large for their
2:33:11
little bodies and pipe stemy legs, and gave them an uncanny and brownie look,
2:33:16
which was greatly increased by the staring and glassy expression of their large round
2:33:20
eyes. When I first caught sight of them, they had hold of hands.
2:33:26
But now they stood, each with his pair stretched out toward Bulgar and
2:33:28
me, waving them strangely in the air and agitating their long fingers as if
2:33:33
they were endeavoring to set a spell upon us. I imagined that I could
2:33:37
feel a sensation of drowsiness creeping over me, and made haste to call out
2:33:43
NI, good people do not strive to set a spell upon me. I
2:33:46
am the illustrious explorer from the upper world, Sebastian von Trump, and come
2:33:52
to you with most peaceful intent. But they paid no heed to my words,
2:33:56
merely advancing a few inches, and with outstretched hands, continued to beat
2:34:00
and claw the air, pausing only to signal to each other by touching each
2:34:03
other's hands or different parts of each other's bodies. I was deeply perplexed by
2:34:09
their actions, and took a step or two forward, when instantly they fell
2:34:11
back the same distance, all men are brothers, I exclaimed in a loud
2:34:16
tone, and carry the same shaped hearts in their breasts. Why do you
2:34:20
fear me? You are thrice my number in your own home. I pray
2:34:24
you stand fast and speak to me. As I was pronouncing these words,
2:34:28
they kept jerking their heads back, as if the sound of my voice were
2:34:31
smiting them in the face. It was very strange. Suddenly one of them
2:34:35
drew from his pocket a ball of silken cord, and deathly, unrolling it,
2:34:41
tossed one end toward me. It flew directly towards me, for its
2:34:45
end was weighted with a thin disk of polished silver, as was the end
2:34:48
retained in the hand of the thrower. His next move was to open his
2:34:52
jacket and apparently press his disc against his bare body, right over his heart.
2:34:56
I made haste to do the same with mine, holding it firmly in
2:35:00
place. This done, he retreated a step or two until the silken cord
2:35:03
had been drawn quite tauked. Then he paused and stood for several instants without
2:35:09
moving a muscle, after which he passed the disk to one of his companions,
2:35:13
who, having pressed it against his heart, in turn passed it to
2:35:16
the third of the group. With the quickness of thought, the truth now
2:35:20
burst upon me. The three brownielike creatures in front of me were not only
2:35:24
blind, but they were deaf and dumb. The one sense upon which they
2:35:28
relied, and which in them was of most marvelous keenness, was the sense
2:35:31
of feeling. The strange motions of their hands and fingers, so much like
2:35:35
the beating and waving of an insects feelers, were simply to intercept and measure
2:35:41
the vibrations of the air set in motion by the movements of my body.
2:35:45
Their large round eyes, too had but the sense of feeling. But so
2:35:48
wondrously acute was it that it was almost like the power of sight, enabling
2:35:54
them, by the vibration of the air upon the balls, to tell exactly
2:35:56
how near a moving object is to them. Their purpose in throwing the silken
2:36:01
cord and silver disk to me was by measuring the beating of my heart and
2:36:05
comparing it with our own, to determine whether I was human like them.
2:36:11
Judge of my astonishment, dear friends, upon seeing one of their number,
2:36:13
went to the silver disk, and by means of sign language, give me
2:36:18
to understand that they wanted to feel the heart of the living creature in my
2:36:20
company. Stooping down, I hastened to gratify their curiosity by applying it over
2:36:26
my dear Bulgar's heart. At once there was an expression of most comical amazement
2:36:31
depicted on their faces as they passed the disk from one to the other and
2:36:35
pressed it against different parts of their bodies, now against their breasts, now
2:36:39
against their cheeks, and even against their closed eyelids. Of course, I
2:36:43
knew that their amazement proceeded from the rapid beating of Bulgar's heart, and I
2:36:50
enjoyed their childlike surprise very much. All expression of fear noun vanished from their
2:36:54
faces, and I was delighted with the look of sweet temper and good humor
2:36:58
that played about them their features. Slowly and on tiptoe, they drew near
2:37:03
to Bulgar and mean, and for several minutes amused themselves mightily by running their
2:37:07
long, flexible fingers hither and thither over our bodies. It did not take
2:37:11
to belong to discover that I was, to all intents and purposes, a
2:37:15
creature of their own kind, but not so with Bulgar. Their round faces
2:37:18
became seamed and lined with wonder as they made themselves acquainted with his to them
2:37:24
strange build and ever and anon. As they felt him over, would they
2:37:28
pause, and, in lightning like motions of their fingers on each other's hands
2:37:33
and arms and faces, exchanged thoughts as to the wonderful being which had entered
2:37:37
the portal of their city. No doubt your dying of impatience, dear friends,
2:37:41
to be told something more definite concerning these strange people among whom I had
2:37:46
fallen. Well know then that their existence had been darkly hinted at in the
2:37:50
manuscript of the great Master don Fum. I say darkly hinted at. For
2:37:56
you must bear in mind that don Fum never visited this world within a world,
2:38:00
that his wonderful wisdom enabled him to reason it all out without seeing it,
2:38:05
just as the great naturalists of our day, upon finding a single tooth
2:38:09
belonging to some gigantic creature which lived thousands of years ago, are able to
2:38:13
draw complete pictures of him. While these curious beings whose city Vulgar and I
2:38:18
had entered are called by two different names in don Fum's Wonderful In some places
2:38:24
he speaks of them as the Sudopsis or make believe eyes, and in others
2:38:28
as the former folk or ant people, either name was most appropriate, their
2:38:33
large, round, clear eyes being really make believe ones, for as I
2:38:37
have told you, they have absolutely no sense of sight. While on the
2:38:41
other hand, the fact that they were deaf, dumb, and blind and
2:38:45
lived in underground homes made them well entitled to the name of ant people.
2:38:50
In a few moments, the three pseudopsis had succeeded in teaching me the main
2:38:54
principles of their pressure language, so that I was, to their great delight,
2:38:58
enabled to answer a number of their questions. But think not, dear
2:39:01
friends, that these very wise and active little folk, skilled in so many
2:39:05
arts, have no other language than one consisting of pressures of different degree made
2:39:09
by their finger tips upon each other's bodies. They had a most beautiful language,
2:39:13
so rich that they were able to express the most difficult thoughts, to
2:39:18
give utterance to the most varied emotions. In short, a language quite the
2:39:22
equal of ours in all respects save one. It contained absolutely no word that
2:39:28
could give them the faintest notion what color was? This is not to be
2:39:31
wondered at, for they themselves neither had nor could have even the faintest conception
2:39:37
of what I meant by color, so that when I attempted to make him
2:39:39
understand that our stars were bright points in the sky, they asked me if
2:39:43
they would prick my finger if I should press upon one of them. But
2:39:46
you, doubtless are anxious to know how the form of folk can possibly make
2:39:50
use of any other language than that of pressures. Well, I will tell
2:39:54
you. Every pseudopsy carried at his girdle a little blank book, if I
2:39:58
may so term it, the covers being of thin silver plates, variously carved
2:40:01
and chased as the owner's taste may prompt. The leaves of this book also
2:40:05
consist of thin sheets of silver, not much thicker than our tinfoil. Also
2:40:11
fastened to his girdle by a silken cord, hangs a silver pen, or
2:40:15
rather a stylus. Now, when a pseudopsy wishes to say something to one
2:40:18
of his people, something too difficult to express by pressures of the finger tips,
2:40:22
he simply turns over a leaf of the silver against the inside of either
2:40:28
cover, both of which are slightly padded, and taking up his stylus,
2:40:31
proceeds to write out what he wishes to say. And this done, He
2:40:35
deftly tears the leaf out and hands it to his companion, who, taking
2:40:39
it and turning it over, runs the wonderfully sensitive tips of his fingers over
2:40:43
the raised writing and reads it with the greyest ease. Only, of course,
2:40:46
he reads from right to left instead of from left to right as it
2:40:50
was written. So hereafter, when I repeat my conversations with the form of
2:40:54
folk, you will understand how they were conducted. In of Chapter fifteen.
2:41:03
Chapter sixteen, ideas of the former folk concerning our upper world, the dancing
2:41:09
Specter, their efforts to lay hold of him, my solemn promise that he
2:41:15
should behave himself. We set out for the city of the make believe eyes
2:41:20
my amazement at the magnificence of the approaches to it. We reached the Great
2:41:24
Bridge of Silver, and I get my first glance of the city of Candelabra,
2:41:30
brief account of the wonders spread out before my eyes, excitement occasioned by
2:41:35
our arrival our silver bedchamber. Although thousands and thousands of years had gone by
2:41:41
since the former folk had by constant exposure to the flicker and glare of the
2:41:46
burning gas which their ancestors had discovered and made use of to illumine their underground
2:41:52
world, gradually lost their sense of sight, and then, in consequence of
2:41:56
the deep and awful silence that forever ran about them, had also lost their
2:42:01
sense of hearing, and naturally thereafter their power of speech. Yet marvelous to
2:42:07
relate, they still kept within their minds dim and shadowy traditions of the Upper
2:42:11
world, and the mighty lamp, as they called the sun, which burned
2:42:16
for twelve hours and then went out, leaving the world in darkness until the
2:42:22
spirits of the air could trim it again. And strange to say, many
2:42:26
of the unreal things of the Upper world had been, by the workings of
2:42:30
their minds, transformed into realities, while the realities had become the merest cobwebs
2:42:35
of the brain. For instance, the shadows cast by our bodies in the
2:42:39
sunlight and forever following at our heels, they had come to think were actual
2:42:45
creatures, our doubles, so to speak, And that on account of these
2:42:48
dancing specters, as they called them, which dogged our footsteps for our life
2:42:54
long, sitting like Marjoy's at our feasts, it was utterly impossible for the
2:42:58
people of the Upper world to be entirely happy as they were, and it
2:43:03
occurred to them at once that I must have such a double following at my
2:43:07
heels. So several times they suddenly joined hands, and, forming a circle
2:43:13
about me, gradually closed up with intent to lay hold of the dancing specter.
2:43:18
This they did, too, after I had assured them that what they
2:43:22
had in mind was the mere shadow cast by a person walking in the light.
2:43:26
But as they had absolutely no idea of the nature of light, I
2:43:31
only had my trouble for my pains. Nor did they give over making every
2:43:35
now and then the most frantic and laughable efforts to catch the little dancing gentlemen,
2:43:41
who, as they were bound to think, was quietly trudging along at
2:43:45
my heels. But whoso they informed me, was far quicker in his motions
2:43:48
than any escaping water or falling object. Finally, they held one of their
2:43:54
silent but very excited powwows, during which the thousand lightning like pressures and tappings
2:44:00
which they made upon each other's bodies gave the spectator the idea that there were
2:44:05
three deaf and dumb schoolboys engaged in a scrimmage over a bag of marbles.
2:44:09
And then they informed me that they had resolved to permit Bulgar and me to
2:44:13
enter their city, provided I would give them the word of a nobleman that
2:44:18
I would restrain my nimble footed double from doing them any harm. I made
2:44:22
them a most solemn promise that he should behave himself. Whereupon they greeted both
2:44:28
Vulgar and me as brothers, stroking our hair, patting our heads, and
2:44:31
kissing me on the cheeks. And what was more, they told us their
2:44:35
names, which were lung thumbs, square nose, and shuggy brows. All
2:44:39
this time I had been every now and then casting anxious glances on ahead of
2:44:45
me, for I was dying of impatience to enter the marvelous city of the
2:44:48
ant people. I say, marvelous, dear friends. For though many had
2:44:54
been the wonderful things I had seen in my lifetime in the far away corners
2:44:56
of the upper world, yet here was a sightight which, as it gradually
2:45:01
unfolded itself before my eyes, shackled my very heart and caused me to gasp
2:45:07
for breath. It was with no little surprise at the very outset that I
2:45:11
discovered that the walls and floor of the beautiful passage through which the pseudopsies were
2:45:16
leading Bulger and me were of pure silver, the former being composed of polished
2:45:22
panels ornamented with finely executed chasings and carvings, and the latter as had in
2:45:28
fact all the floors and streets and passages of the city, having upon their
2:45:31
polished surfaces slightly raised characters, which I will explain later. But as one
2:45:37
passage opened into another, and then four or more, all centered in a
2:45:43
vast circular chamber, which we traversed with our three silent guides, only to
2:45:48
inter chambers and quarters of greater size and beauty, all brilliantly lighted by rows
2:45:52
of the same glorious candelabra upholding clusters of tongues of flame. I could compare
2:45:58
the scene to nothing save a series of magnificent ball rooms and banquet halls out
2:46:03
of which the happy guests had been suddenly driven by the deep and awful rumble
2:46:09
of an earthquake shock, the lights having been left burning. Now the scene
2:46:13
began to change. Lungthums, who was leading the way and in whose large
2:46:18
palm my little hand lay completely lost, suddenly turned to the right and led
2:46:24
me up an arched way. I saw that we were crossing a bridge over
2:46:28
a stream as black and sluggish as the leaf itself. But such a bridge
2:46:33
never had my eye rested upon so light an aero a span springing from bank
2:46:37
to bank, not the plain and solid work of the stonemason, but the
2:46:41
fair and cunning result of the metal worker's skill, like the labor of love,
2:46:48
delicate yet strong, and almost too beautiful for use. Two rows of
2:46:54
silver lamps of exquisite workmanship crowned its gracefully arching sides. And when we stood
2:47:00
upon its highest bend, Long Thumbs halted and wrote upon his tablet, Now,
2:47:05
little Baron, we are about to enter the dwelling place of our people.
2:47:09
Thy head is large, and there is no doubt much of wisdom stored
2:47:13
away in thy brain makes such use of it as not to disturb the perfect
2:47:18
happiness of our nation. For no doubt, many of our people will be
2:47:22
suspicious of thee and for the first time in thousands of years, a pseudopsy
2:47:26
will lay him down to sleep, and in his dreams feel the touch of
2:47:31
the dancing specter of the upper world. I promised Long Thumbs that he should
2:47:35
have no reason to be dissatisfied with me, and then making an excuse that
2:47:39
I was awary. I feasted my eyes for several moments upon the glorious scenes
2:47:45
spread out before me. It was the city of the former folk, in
2:47:48
all its splendor, a splendor alas unseen by unknown too, the very people
2:47:54
dwelling in it, for to them, its silver walls and arches, its
2:47:58
endless rows of clo glorious candelabra uplifting their countless clusters of never dying jets of
2:48:05
flame, Its exquisitely carved and chiseled portals and gateways, Its graceful chairs and
2:48:09
settees and beds and couches and tables, and lamps and basins and ewers,
2:48:16
and thousands of articles of furniture, all in purest silver, hammered or wrought
2:48:20
by the cunning hands of their ancestors while they still were possessed of the power
2:48:26
of sight. Could only be known to these their descendants by the sole sense
2:48:31
of feeling, from the lofty ceilings of corridors and archways, from the jutting
2:48:37
ornaments of the house fronts, from cornice and coping from the four sides of
2:48:41
columns, and from the corners of cupolas and minarets here and there and everywhere
2:48:46
hung silver lamps of more than oriental beauty of form, and finish all with
2:48:52
their never dying tongues of flame, sending forth a soft, though unsteady light
2:48:56
to fall upon sightless eyes. But yet these countless claims, by the aid
2:49:01
of which I was enabled to gaze upon the splendor of this city of silver
2:49:05
palaces, were life, if not light to the pseudopsis, For they warmed
2:49:11
these vast subterranean depths and filled them with a deliciously soft and strangely balmy air.
2:49:20
And yet, to think that Bulgar and I were the only to living
2:49:22
creatures to be able to look upon this scene of almost celestial beauty and radiance,
2:49:28
it may be sad, and plunged me into such a fit of deep
2:49:31
abstraction that it required a second gentle tug of long Thumb's hand to bring me
2:49:35
to myself. As we crossed the bridge and entered the city proper, I
2:49:41
was delighted to note that the streets and open squares were ornamented with hundreds of
2:49:46
statues, all in solid silver, and that they represented specimens of a race
2:49:50
of great beauty of person. And then it occurred to me how fortunate it
2:49:56
was that the pseudopsis could not gaze upon these images of their ancestors, and
2:50:01
thus become living witnesses of their own woeful fallen away from the former physical grace
2:50:07
of their race. Now like human ants that they were, the farmer folk
2:50:11
began to swarm forth from their dwellings on every side of the city, and
2:50:16
my keen ear caught the low shuffling sound of their bare feet over the silver
2:50:20
streets as they closed in about us, their arms flashing in the light,
2:50:24
and their faces lined with strange emotions as they learned of the arrival among them
2:50:28
of two creatures from the upper world. They were all glad men and women
2:50:33
alike, in silk garments of a chestnut brown, and I had at once
2:50:39
concluded that they drew this material from the same sources as the Macaminky's. For
2:50:43
dear friends, you must not get an idea that the former folk were not
2:50:48
well deserving of the name which dan Fum had bestowed upon them. They were
2:50:52
genuine human ants, and except when sleeping, always at work. It was
2:50:58
true that since their blindness had come upon them, they had not been able
2:51:01
to add a single column or archway to the Silver City. But in all
2:51:05
the ordinary concerns of life, they were quite as industrious as ever, chasing,
2:51:11
carving, chiseling, planting, weaving, knitting, and doing a thousand
2:51:16
and one things that you and I, with our two good eyes would find
2:51:20
it hard to accomplish. I had made known to long Thumbs the fact that
2:51:24
Bulgar and I were both very tired and weary from our long tramp, and
2:51:28
that we crave to have some refreshment set before us, and then to be
2:51:33
permitted to go to rest at once, promising that after we had had several
2:51:37
hours good sleep, we would take the greatest pleasure in being presented to the
2:51:41
worthy inhabitants of the Silver City. It was astonishing with what rapidity this request
2:51:46
of mine spread from man to man. Long Thumbs made it known to two
2:51:52
at the same time, and these two to four, and these four to
2:51:56
eight, and these eight to sixteen, and so on. You see,
2:52:00
wouldn't take long at that rate to tell a million. Like magic, the
2:52:03
former folk disappeared from the streets, and in a sort of orderly confusion faded
2:52:07
from my sight. Bulger and I were right glad to be conducted to a
2:52:13
silver bedchamber, where the travelers every want seemed to be anticipated. The only
2:52:18
thing that bothered us was we had not been accustomed to keep the light burning
2:52:22
upon going to bed, and this made us both a little wakeful at first,
2:52:26
but we were too tired to let it keep us from dropping off after
2:52:30
a few moments. For the mattress was soft and springy enough to satisfy anyone,
2:52:35
and I'm sure that no one could have complained that the house wasn't quiet
2:52:39
enough. End of chapter sixteen. Chapter seventeen, in which you read,
2:52:48
dear friends, something about a live alarm clock and a pseudopsy bather and rubber,
2:52:54
our first breakfast in the city of Silver, a new way to catch
2:52:58
fish without hurting their feelings. How the streets and houses were numbered, and
2:53:01
where the sign boards were a very original library in which books never get dog
2:53:09
eared. How Velvet Souls enjoyed her favorite poets. I am presented to the
2:53:13
learned barrel Brow, who proceeds to give me his views of the upper world.
2:53:18
They entertained me amazingly and may interest you. I can't tell you,
2:53:24
dear friends, exactly how long Bulgar and I slept, but it must have
2:53:28
been a good while, for when I was awakened, I felt thoroughly refreshed.
2:53:31
I say awakened, for I was awakened by a gentle tapping on the
2:53:35
back of my hand, six taps. At first I thought I was dreaming,
2:53:39
but upon rubbing my eyes, I saw standing by the side of my
2:53:43
bed one of the pseudopsys, who, feeling me stir took up his tablet
2:53:48
and wrote as follows. My name is Taphard. I am a clock.
2:53:52
There is a score of us. We keep the time for our people by
2:53:56
counting the swing of the pendulum in the time house. It swings about as
2:54:00
fast as we breathe. There are one hundred breaths to a minute and one
2:54:03
hundred minutes to an hour. Our day is divided into six hours work time
2:54:09
and six hours sleep time. It is now the rising hour. If thou
2:54:13
wilt be pleased to rise, one of our people from the health house will
2:54:16
rub all the tired out of thy limbs. I touched Taphart's heart to thank
2:54:22
him, and made haste to scramble out of bed. Now, for the
2:54:26
first time I looked about the silver chamber in which I had slept. On
2:54:30
silver shelves lay silver combs and silver shears and silver knives. On a silver
2:54:35
stand stood a silver ewer within a silver basin, on silver pegs, hung
2:54:41
silken towels, while spread upon the silver floor lay soft silk and rugs,
2:54:46
and above and around on seaingom walls. The tongues of flame were a thousand
2:54:50
times repeated in the panels of burnished silver. I had made trial of all
2:54:56
sorts of oriental rubber and bath attendants in my day, as the silent little
2:55:00
Sudopsy who laughed and rubbed and tapped and stroked me, exceeding them all in
2:55:05
dexterity, added to which was a new charm, for I was not obliged
2:55:09
to listen to long and senseless tales of adventure in a tree, but was
2:55:13
left quite alone to my own thoughts. Bulger was also treated to a sponging
2:55:18
and a rubbing, a luxury which he had not enjoyed since we had left
2:55:20
Castle Trump. My toilette was no sooner completed than long Thumbs made his appearance
2:55:26
to inquire after my health and to superintend the serving of my breakfast, which
2:55:31
consisted of a piece of most delicate boiled fish flanked with oysters of delicious flavor,
2:55:37
and trimmed with slices of those monstrous mushrooms which I had eaten among the
2:55:41
Micamenks. The whole served in a beautiful silver dish on a silver tray with
2:55:48
silver eating utensils. Remembering the strange way in which the fish were caught and
2:55:52
killed in the land of a Macamenk's, I was curious to know how the
2:55:56
pseudopsies managed it, for I knew enough of them to know that the sensation
2:56:01
of anything struggling for its life in their hands would suffice to throw them into
2:56:05
fits of great suffering, to fill their gentle hearts with nameless terror. At
2:56:11
the end of one of the many corridors leading out of our city, explained
2:56:15
long thumbs, there is a rocky chamber which was called by our ancestors ouposlac,
2:56:20
or the death hole, because any being which breathes its air for a
2:56:24
few moments is sure to die, so they closed it up forever, leaving
2:56:30
only a small pipe projecting through the door. But strange to say, those
2:56:35
who breathe this air suffer no pain whatever, but presently drop off into a
2:56:39
pleasant dream, and unless they be rescued, would of course never wake again.
2:56:43
Now, as our laws forbid us to cause any pain to the most
2:56:48
insignificant creature, it occurred to our ancestors that, by means of a long
2:56:52
pipe, they could turn this poisoned air into the river whenever they wanted a
2:56:56
supply of fish for food. This they did, and, strange to say,
2:57:01
the moment the fish felt the gas bubbling into the river, they at
2:57:05
once swam up to the mouth of the pipe and struggled with each other for
2:57:07
a chance to catch the deadly bubbles as they left its mouth. So pleasant
2:57:13
a sensation do they cause as they gradually plunged the creature, breathing them into
2:57:18
his last sleep. And in this way it is we are able to feed
2:57:20
upon the fish in our river without breaking the law of the land. I
2:57:24
began to understand that I had fallen in with a very original and interesting folk.
2:57:30
But Bulgar was not altogether pleased with them, for several reasons, as
2:57:35
I soon observed. In the first place, he couldn't accustom himself to the
2:57:39
cold and glassy look of their eyes, and in the next he was a
2:57:43
bit jealous of their wonderfully keen scent, a sense which with them was so
2:57:48
strong that they invariably gave signs of being conscious of Bulger's approach even before I
2:57:54
could see him, and always turn their faces in the direction in which he
2:57:58
was coming. You will remember, dear friends, that I mention the fact
2:58:03
that the former folk went barefoot, and that their feet, as well as
2:58:05
their hands, seemed altogether too large for their bodies. And I wished to
2:58:11
add that while Bulgar and I were being led through the long corridors and winding
2:58:16
passages on our way into the city of Silver, the three pseudopsies frequently half
2:58:20
halted and seemed to be feeling on the floor for something with the balls of
2:58:24
their feet. I thought no more about it until Bulgar and I started out
2:58:30
for our first stroll through their wonderful town, when, to my great delight,
2:58:35
I made the discovery that the numbers of the houses, the names of
2:58:39
the occupants, the names of the streets, as well as all sign boards,
2:58:43
so to speak, and all guideposts were in slightly raised letters on the
2:58:46
floors and pavements. And then the truth dawned upon me that Long Thumbs and
2:58:52
his companions were simply halting now and then to read the names of the streets
2:58:56
with the balls of their feet in order to know if they were taking the
2:58:58
right road. I more than this, dear friends, the first time Bulgar
2:59:03
and I passed through one of the open squares of the city of Silver.
2:59:05
You may imagine my satisfaction upon the discovery that the silver pavements were literally covered
2:59:13
with the writings of the Pseudopsy authors in raised characters. Now in don Fum's
2:59:18
wonderful book, he had, in his masterly manner, giving me the key
2:59:22
to the language of the former folk, so that with very slight effort I
2:59:26
was able to make the additional discovery that some of the streets were given up
2:59:30
to the writers of history and some to story writers, while others were filled
2:59:33
with the learned works of philosophers, and others still contained many thousands of lines
2:59:39
from the best poets which the nation had produced. And I had very little
2:59:43
difficulty in discovering which were the favorite poems of the Pseudopsis, for, as
2:59:46
you may readily suppose, these were polished like a silver mirror by the shuffling
2:59:52
of the many thankful feet over their sweet and soulful lines. I noticed that
2:59:56
the writings of the philosophers in this as in my own world, found few
3:00:01
readers, for the raised letters were in many cases tarnished and black from lack
3:00:07
of souls, trampling over them in search of wisdom. Somewhat later, when
3:00:11
I had become acquainted with velvet souls, the daughter of long thumbs, a
3:00:16
gracious little being, as full of inward light as she was blind to the
3:00:20
outer world, and she invited me to come for a reed. I had
3:00:24
a hard task of it in persuading her that I could not remove what she
3:00:28
called my ridiculous foot boxes and join her in enjoying some of her favorite poems.
3:00:33
It was to me a delicious pastime to accompany this happy little maiden when
3:00:37
she went for a reed, to walk beside her and watch the ever varying
3:00:41
expression of her beautiful face as the souls of her tiny feet pressed the words
3:00:46
of love and hope and joy, and her heart expanded, and she clasped
3:00:52
her hands in attitudes of blissful enjoyment, seemingly just as deep and fervent as
3:00:58
if the blessed sun light rested on her brow, and her eyes were drinking
3:01:03
in the glory of a summer sunset. Old dwellers in the upper world,
3:01:07
with the light streaming into the windows of your souls, with your ears open,
3:01:11
to the music of pipe and flute and violin, and to the sweeter
3:01:15
music of the voice of love. How much more heavy than she, And
3:01:20
yet how rarely are ye as happy? How rarely do ye know that sweet
3:01:24
contentment, which, as in this case, came from within. Go to
3:01:30
the ant, consider her ways, and be wise, which, having no
3:01:33
guide, overseer or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth
3:01:39
her food in the harvest. In a short time, the former folks seemed
3:01:43
to become quite accustomed to having bulger In me among them, and they apparently
3:01:48
touched hands with me in quite as friendly a fashion as if I had been
3:01:52
one of them. One day, long Thumbs conducted me to the house of
3:01:56
the most aged, and learned of the Sudopsy berrel Brow by name. He
3:02:01
received me very cordially, although I interrupted him at his studies, for as
3:02:05
I entered his apartment, he was in the act of reading four different books
3:02:09
at the same time. Two were lying on the floor, and he was
3:02:13
perusing the raised characters with the soles of his feet, and two others were
3:02:16
set up on a frame in front of him, and he was deciphering them
3:02:20
with the tips of his fingers. But when informed who I was, he
3:02:22
stopped work at once, and, taking up his tablets, asked me a
3:02:26
number of questions concerning the upper world, of which he had, However,
3:02:31
no very exalted opinion you people, said he, if I understand correctly the
3:02:37
ancient writings of those of our nation who still preserved certain traditions of the upper
3:02:41
world, are endowed with several senses which are utterly lacking in us, I
3:02:46
am happy to say, for if I understand correctly, ye have in the
3:02:52
first place a sense which ye call hearing, a most troublesome sense, For
3:02:56
by means of it, ye are being constantly disturbed and annoyed by vibrations of
3:03:01
the air coming from afar. Now they can be of no possible good to
3:03:07
you. He might as well have a sense that would inform you what was
3:03:09
going on in the moon. Therefore, my conclusion is that the sense of
3:03:15
hearing only serves to distract and weaken the brain. Another sense that ye are
3:03:20
possessed of, continued Beryl brow. You call the sense of sight a power
3:03:24
even more useless and distracting than hearing, For the reason that it enables you
3:03:30
to know things which it is utterly fruitless to know, such as what your
3:03:35
next door neighbors may be doing, how the mountains are acting on the other
3:03:39
side of your rivers, how your sky, as you call it, might
3:03:43
feel if you could touch it with your fingers, which you can't do.
3:03:48
However, how soon rain will fall, which is a useless piece of knowledge,
3:03:52
if ye have ruse to cover you, as I suppose ye have.
3:03:56
But the most ridiculous use which ye make of this sense of sight is the
3:04:01
manufacture of what you call pictures, by means of which ye seem to take
3:04:05
the greatest pleasure in deceiving this very sense of which ye are so very proud.
3:04:11
If I understand correctly, these pictures, if felt of, are quite
3:04:16
as smooth as a panel there. But so cunningly do ye draw the lines
3:04:20
and lay in the colors whatever they may be, that ye really succeed in
3:04:24
deceiving yourselves, and stand for hours in front of one of these bits of
3:04:28
trickery, when ye might, if ye choose, feast your eyes, as
3:04:33
ye call it, upon the very thing which the trickster has imitated. Now,
3:04:37
as life is much shorter, in the upper world than in ours.
3:04:41
It seems very strange to me that ye should wish to waste it in this
3:04:45
foolish manner. Then there is another thing, little Baron, continued the learned
3:04:50
perrel brow, which I wish to mention. It is this. The people
3:04:54
of the upper world pride themselves very much upon what they turned the power a
3:04:58
speech, which, if I understand correctly, is a faculty they have of
3:05:03
expressing their thoughts to each other by violently expelling the air from their lungs.
3:05:07
And that this air, rushing into the ventilators of the brain, which ye
3:05:13
call ears, produces a sensation of sound, as ye term it. And
3:05:16
in this way one of thy people, standing at one end of the town
3:05:20
might make his wishes known to another standing at the other end. Now thou
3:05:24
wilt pardon my thinking, so, little Baron, But this seems to me
3:05:28
to be not a whit above the brute creature, which, opening its vast
3:05:33
jaws, thus sets the air in motion and calling its young or breathing defiance
3:05:39
at an enemy. And if I understand correctly, little Baron, so proud
3:05:45
are thy people of this power of speech, that they insist upon making use
3:05:48
of it at all times and upon all occasions, and strange to say,
3:05:52
these talkers can always find plenty of people to open their ears to these vibrations
3:05:58
of the air, although the effect is so wearying to the brain that in
3:06:01
the end they invariably fall asleep. But if I understand correctly, the women
3:06:07
are even fonder of displaying their skill in thus puffing out the air from their
3:06:13
lungs than the men are. But that not satisfied with this superior power of
3:06:18
puffing out the words, they actually have recourse to a potent herb, which
3:06:24
they steep in boiling water and drink as hot as possible, on account of
3:06:28
its effect in loosening the tongue and allowing the talker to do more puffing than
3:06:33
she could otherwise. But all this little baron continued, the learned barrel brow
3:06:39
might be overlooked and regarded in the light of mere amusement, were it not
3:06:45
for the fact. If I understand correctly that brain ventilators being of different sizes
3:06:50
in different persons, the consequence is that these puffs of air which you use
3:06:54
to make your thoughts to each other, produce different effects upon different persons,
3:07:01
And the result is that the people of the upper world spend half of their
3:07:05
time repeating the puffs which they have already sent out, And that even then
3:07:09
thou canst rarely find two people who will agree exactly as to the number,
3:07:13
kind, strength, and meaning of the puffs blown into each other's brain ventilators.
3:07:18
And that therefore it has become necessary to provide what ye call judges to
3:07:24
settle these disputes, which offered last for lifetimes, the two parties spending their
3:07:30
entire fortunes hiring witnesses to come before these judges and imitate the sound which the
3:07:35
air made when it was set in motion years ago by the angry puffs of
3:07:39
the two parties. I sincerely trust little Baron, wrote the learned barrel Brow
3:07:46
on his tablet of silver, that when thou returnest to their people, thou
3:07:50
wilt make known to them what I have written for thee to day. For
3:07:52
it is never too late to correct a fault, and the longer that fault
3:07:56
has lasted, the greater the credit for correcting it. I promised the learned
3:08:01
pseudopsy to do as he requested, and then we touched each other on the
3:08:05
back of the head, which is the way they say good bye in the
3:08:09
land of the former folk. A touch on the forehead, meaning how d'ye
3:08:11
do? End of Chapter seventeen. Chapter eighteen Early history of the Pseudopsies,
3:08:20
as related by Beryl Brow. How they were driven to take refuge in the
3:08:24
underworld, and how they came upon the Marble Highway, their discovery of natural
3:08:30
gas, which yields them light and warmth, and of nature's magnificent treasure house,
3:08:35
how they replaced their tattered garments and began to build the city of silver,
3:08:39
the strange misfortunes that came upon them, and how they rose superior to
3:08:45
them, terrible as they were. And no doubt, dear friends, you
3:08:50
would be glad to hear something about the early history of the Pseudopsies. Who
3:08:54
they were, where they came from, and how they happened to find their
3:08:56
way down into the world within a world. At least, this was the
3:09:01
way I felt after I had been presented to the learned Barrel Brow, And
3:09:05
so the next time I called upon him, I waited patiently for him to
3:09:09
finish reading the four books in front of him, and then I said,
3:09:11
be pleased, dear master, to tell me something concerning the early history of
3:09:16
thy people, and to explain to me how they came to make their way
3:09:20
down into this underground world ages and ages ago, wrote the learned barrel Brow.
3:09:26
My people lived upon the shores of a beautiful land, with a vast
3:09:31
ocean to the north of it, and in those days they had the same
3:09:35
senses as the other people of the upper world. It was a very fair
3:09:39
land, indeed, so fair that, in the words of the ancient chronicles,
3:09:45
the sun looked in vain for a farer. Its rivers were deep and
3:09:48
broad, its plains were rich and fertile, and its mountains stored full of
3:09:54
silver and gold, and copper and tin. And so easily mind were these
3:10:00
metals that our people became famous as metal workers, so deaft in their workmanship,
3:10:05
that the other nations from far and near came to us for swords and
3:10:11
shields, and spearheads, and suits of armor, and table service, and
3:10:15
armlets and bracelets, and above all for lamps, most gloriously chased and carved
3:10:22
to hang in their palaces and temples. And so we were very happy,
3:10:26
until one terrible day the great round world gave a twist, and we were
3:10:33
turned away from the sun, so that its rays went slantingly over our heads
3:10:39
and gave us no warmth. Oh me I could weep, now, exclaimed
3:10:43
the learned barrel brow. After all these centuries, when I think of the
3:10:48
cruel fate that overtook my people, in a few months, the whole face
3:10:54
of our fair land was covered with ice and snow, and our cattle dyed,
3:11:00
and many of our people too, before they could weave thick cloth to
3:11:03
keep their delicate bodies from the pinching cold. But this was not all.
3:11:09
The great blue ocean, which had until then dashed its warm waves and white
3:11:13
foam up against our shores, now breathed its icy breath full upon us,
3:11:20
driving us into our cellars to escape its fury. And in a few brief
3:11:24
months, to our horror, there came drifting down upon us fields and mountains
3:11:31
of ice, which the tempestuous waters cast up against our shores with deafening crash.
3:11:39
To remain there meant death, swift and terrible. So the command was
3:11:43
given to abandon homes and firesides and escape to the southward, And this most
3:11:50
of them did. But it so happened that several hundred families belonging to the
3:11:54
metal working guilds who knew the underground passages to the mines as foresters know.
3:12:00
The trackless wood had taken refuge in the vast underground caverns with all the goods
3:12:05
they could carry. Poor deluded creatures. They thought that this sudden coming of
3:12:11
the winter blast, of the blinding snow and vast floating fields of ice,
3:12:16
was but a freak of nature, and that in a few months the old
3:12:18
warmth and the old sunshine would come back again. Alas months went by,
3:12:24
and their supply of food was almost exhausted, and the entrances to the mines
3:12:30
were closed by gigantic blocks of ice, cemented into one great mass by the
3:12:35
snow which the gray clouds had sifted down upon them, there was now no
3:12:41
escape that way. Their only hope was to make their way underground to some
3:12:45
portal to the upper world. So, with lighted torches, but with hearts
3:12:50
plunged in the darkness of despair, they kept on their way when one day
3:12:54
or one night they knew not which their leaders suddenly came upon on a broad
3:13:00
street of marble, opened by nature's own hands. It was skirted by a
3:13:05
softly flowing river that swarmed with fish, in scales and shells and skin,
3:13:11
and here are people halted to eat and drink and rest. And while one
3:13:16
of their number was striking his flint on one occasion to make a fire to
3:13:20
cook a meal, to his surprise and delight, a tongue of flame darted
3:13:22
up from the rocky floor and continued to burn, giving light and warmth to
3:13:28
them. As they had brought their tools, their drills and chisels, and
3:13:33
files and gravers and blowpipes with them in their carts and wagons, they made
3:13:39
haste to fit a pipe to this opening in the rock, and set up
3:13:43
a cluster of lights with food and water and warmth and light. Their hearts
3:13:48
grew lighter, especially as they soon discovered that in many of the vast caverns,
3:13:52
gigantic mushrooms grew in the wildest profusion. The wisest of them continued,
3:14:01
the learned barrel brow at once made up their minds that there must be reservoirs
3:14:05
of this gas farther along on this beautiful marble highway. So day by day
3:14:11
they pushed farther into this world within a world, halting every now and then
3:14:16
to set up a lighthouse, as they called it, after advancing several leagues,
3:14:22
the exploring party, upon lighting a cluster of gas jets, were stricken
3:14:26
almost speechless with wonder at finding themselves upon the very sill of a tower portal,
3:14:33
opening into a succession of vast chambers, some with flat ceiling, some
3:14:39
arched, some domed, upon the floors and walls of which lay and hung
3:14:43
inexhaustible quantities of pure silver. Those magnificent caverns were, in reality nature's vast
3:14:52
storehouses of the glorious white metal, and our people made haste to set up
3:14:56
clusters of gas jets here and there so that they might view the wondrous treasure
3:15:03
house. Here they determined to remain, for here was food and water and
3:15:07
never failing supplies, and here they would have light and warmth. And here
3:15:11
they could forget their miseries by working at their calling, using the precious metal
3:15:16
with lavish hand to build them living chambers and to fashion the thousand and one
3:15:20
things necessary for every day life. So great was their delight as metal workers
3:15:28
to come upon this exhaustless supply of pure silver, that they could hardly sleep
3:15:31
until they had set up clusters of gas jets throughout these vast caverns. For
3:15:37
no doubt, little Baron thou hast already guessed that this is the spot I
3:15:41
am telling me of that right here it was where our people halted to build
3:15:46
the city of silver. But one thought troubled them, and that was where
3:15:52
to find needful clothing, for the old was fast falling into shreds and tatters.
3:15:58
When to their delight they came upon a bed of mineral wool. With
3:16:01
this they managed to weave some claw, although it was rather stiff and harsh,
3:16:07
yet it was better than none. While exploring a new cavern one day,
3:16:11
one of my wise ancestors saw a large night moth alike near him,
3:16:16
and, gently loosening some of its eggs, he carried them home, more
3:16:20
as a curiosity than aught else. Imagine how rejoiced he was, however,
3:16:26
to see one of the worms, which hatched out, set to work spinning
3:16:31
a cocoon of silk half as big as his fist. There was great feasting
3:16:37
and merry making among our people upon hearing of this glad news, and it
3:16:41
was not very long before many a silver shuttle was rattling in a silver loom,
3:16:46
and the soft bodies of our people were warmly and comfortably clad. Now
3:16:52
long periods of time went by, which, cut up into your months,
3:16:58
would have made many many years. Our people had everything but sunlight, and
3:17:03
this, of course those who were born in the underworld knew nothing about,
3:17:09
and therefore did not miss. But as was to be expected, great changes
3:17:15
gradually took place in our people. To their inexpressible grief, they noticed that
3:17:20
as they busied themselves beautifying their new homes by erecting arches and bridges and terraces,
3:17:26
and lining them with glorious candelabra and statues, all in cast and rot
3:17:31
or hammered silver, their sight was gradually failing them, and that in not
3:17:37
a very great length of time they should be totally blind. This result,
3:17:43
little Baron, continued, the learned barrel brow was very natural, for the
3:17:48
sense of sight was in reality created for sunlight. For as thou no doubt
3:17:54
knowest, all the fish that swim in our rivers have no eyes, having
3:17:58
no need of them, it happened just as they had expected. In a
3:18:03
few generations more, our people discovered that their eyes could no longer see things
3:18:07
as thou dost, but yet they could feel them if they were not too
3:18:11
far away, just as I can feel thy presence now and tell where thou
3:18:15
sittest, and how tall thou art, and how broad thou art, and
3:18:18
whether thou movest right or left, forward or backward. But I cannot tell
3:18:24
exactly how thou art made until I reach out and touch thee Then I know
3:18:30
all, yes, far better than thou canst know. For our sense of
3:18:33
feeling is keener than thy so called sight. One of my people can feel
3:18:39
a grain or roughness upon a silver mirror, which to thy eyes seems smoother
3:18:45
than glass, well strange to relate, and yet not strange. Our ancestors,
3:18:50
with the going out of their sense of sight, also felt their sense
3:18:54
of hearing on the wain our ears, as thou callest them, having nothing
3:19:00
more to listen to, for eternal silence, as thou knowest, reigns in
3:19:03
this underworld, became as useless to us as the tale of the polywog would
3:19:09
be to the full grown frog. And of course, with the loss of
3:19:13
our sense of hearing, our children were soon unable to learn to talk,
3:19:18
and in a certain lapse of time we came to merit full well our new
3:19:22
name of forma folk or aunt people, for we were now blind and death
3:19:26
and numb. It is long, very very long, Little Baron, continued
3:19:33
the learned pseudopsy. Since all recollection of sunlight, of color, of sound
3:19:37
dyed out of our minds to day, my people don't even know the names
3:19:43
of these things, and thou wouldst have as much chance of success. Wert
3:19:48
thou to attempt to tell them what light or sound is as thou wouldst have
3:19:54
it. Thou shouldst try to explain to a savage that there is nothing under
3:19:58
the world to hold it up, and yet it doesn't fall. But if
3:20:03
thou shouldst delay several pieces of metal in a row and ask one of my
3:20:07
people to tell thee what they were, he would try the weight of each
3:20:11
and feel its grain carefully, possibly smell them or touch his tongue to them.
3:20:16
And then he would make answer that this is gold, this is silver,
3:20:20
that is copper, that is lead, that is tin, that is
3:20:24
iron. But thou wouldst say they are all differently colored. Canst not perceive
3:20:30
that I know not what thou meanest by color? He would reply, But
3:20:35
mark me, now, I hide them all beneath this silken handkerchief, and
3:20:39
still by touching them with my finger tips. I can tell which metal each
3:20:43
one is. If thou canst do it? Then art thou as good a
3:20:46
man as I? What sayest now, little Baron asked the learned barrel Brow,
3:20:52
while his face was wreathed in a smile of triumph. Dost think thou
3:20:58
wouldst be as good a man as this pseudopsy? Nay, indeed I do
3:21:01
not, wise, master, wrote I upon my silver tablet, and I
3:21:07
thank THEE for all thou hast told me and taught me. And I ask
3:21:11
leave old beryl Brow to come again and converse with THEE that thou mayest.
3:21:16
Little Baron traced the learned Pseudopsy upon his silver tablet, and then as I
3:21:22
turned to leave his chamber, he reached quickly after me and touched me with
3:21:26
a bent forefinger, which meant return thy pardon, Little Baron, he wrote,
3:21:31
But thou art leaving my study without thy faithful Bulgar? Am I not
3:21:35
right? I was astounded, For indeed he was right, And though without
3:21:41
the sense of sight, he had seen more than I with two good eyes
3:21:45
wide open, there lay Bulger, fast asleep on a silken covered hassock.
3:21:50
Our silent conversation had so worried him that he had sailed off into the land
3:21:54
of Nod on the wings of a dream. He hung his head and looked
3:21:58
very shamefished when my call aroused him, and he discovered that I had actually
3:22:03
reached the doorway without his knowing it. End of chapter eighteen. Chapter nineteen
3:22:13
begins with something about the little pseudopsys, but branches off on another subject,
3:22:18
to wit the silent song of singing fingers. The fair maid of the City
3:22:22
of Silver, Beryl Brow, is kind enough to enlighten me on a second
3:22:26
point, and he takes occasion to pay Vulgar a very high compliment, which
3:22:31
of course he deserved. The longer I stayed among the pseudopsies, the more
3:22:37
did I become convinced that they were the happiest, the lightest hearted, the
3:22:41
most contented human beings that I had met in all my travels. If it
3:22:45
were possible for the links of a long chain suspended over a chasm to be
3:22:48
living, thinking beans for a short while, it seems to me they would
3:22:54
hang together in the most perfect accord, for each link would discover that he
3:22:58
was no better than his neighbors, and that the welfare of all the other
3:23:03
links depended upon him in his upon theirs. So it was with the former
3:23:07
folk, having no sense of sight, they knew no such thing as envy,
3:23:11
and all hands were alike when reached out for a greeting. I was
3:23:16
amazed at times to see how they could feel my approach when I would be
3:23:20
ten or fifteen feet away from them, and I often amused myself by trying
3:23:24
to steal by one of them in the street. But no, it was
3:23:28
impossible. A hand would invariably be held out for a greeting. Little by
3:23:33
little they got over their distrust of me and made up their minds that I
3:23:35
had told them the truth when I said that no dancing inspecter was forever following
3:23:39
at my heels. One of the most interesting sights was to see a group
3:23:43
of Sudopsy children at play, building houses with silver blocks, or playing a
3:23:48
game very much like our dominoes. I noticed that they kept no tally such
3:23:54
wonderful memories had they that it was quite unnecessary. At first. The children
3:23:58
were so fat upon feeling of me that they fled with terror pictured upon their
3:24:03
little faces. Their parents explained to me that I made very much the same
3:24:07
impression upon them as if I should feel of a person whose skin was as
3:24:11
rough as a sea urchin's. When at last I succeeded in coaxing several of
3:24:16
them to my side, I was astounded to see one little fellow, who
3:24:20
had by chance pressed his tiny hand against my watch pocket, sprang away from
3:24:24
me, terror stricken. He had felt it ticked, and didn't stop running
3:24:28
until he had reached his mother's side. His wonderful tale that the little baron
3:24:33
carried some strange animal round his pocket soon caused a crowd to collect about me,
3:24:37
and it was some time before I could persuade even the parents that the
3:24:41
watch was not alive, and that it was not the little animal's heart which
3:24:46
they felt beating. On one occasion, when a little soodopsy was sitting on
3:24:50
my lap, with its tiny arm twined affectionately around my neck, I happened
3:24:54
to make some remark to Bulger, when, to my amazement, the child
3:24:58
sprang out of my arm and darted away, with a look of terror upon
3:25:01
his little face. What had I done to him? Why? It seems
3:25:05
that by the merest chance, his tiny hand had been pressed against my throat,
3:25:09
and that he had been terrified by feeling the strange vibration caused by my
3:25:13
voice. Immediately, the report was spread about that the little baron carried another
3:25:18
little baron around in his throat, that any one could feel him if I
3:25:22
would only consent. It took me a long while to convince them that what
3:25:28
they felt was not another little baron, but merely the vibration caused by my
3:25:33
expelling my breath in a way peculiar to the people of the upper world.
3:25:37
But all the same, I was obliged to say many hundreds of useless things
3:25:43
to Bulgar in order to give their little hands a chance to feel something so
3:25:46
wonderful from the little I have told you about the names of the former folk,
3:25:50
Dear friends, you have no doubt understood that their names took their rise
3:25:54
from some physical quality, defect or peculiarity. Besides the names I have already
3:26:01
mentioned, I remember sharp chin, long nose, silk ears, smooth palms,
3:26:07
big knuckle, nail off, hammer fist, soft touch, hole in
3:26:13
cheek or hole in chin, dimple, crooked hair, cowlic, and so
3:26:18
on and so on. But to my amazement, one day, when asking
3:26:22
the name of a young girl whose long and delicate fingers had attracted my attention.
3:26:26
I was informed that her name was singing Fingers, or possibly I might
3:26:31
translate it music fingers. I had noticed that thus Pseudopsis had some idea of
3:26:35
music, for the children often amused themselves dancing, and while so engaged beat
3:26:41
time with their finger tips on each other's cheeks and foreheads. But I was
3:26:45
completely in the dark as to what they meant by singing fingers, or why
3:26:48
the young girls should have been so named. Hence, I was greatly pleased
3:26:52
to hear the maiden's mother ask me whether I would like to feel one of
3:26:54
her daughter's songs, as she termed it. Upon my acquiescing, the mother
3:27:00
approached me and proceeded to roll up the sleeves of my coat until she had
3:27:03
laid my arms bare to the elbow. Then she took my arms and clasped
3:27:07
them across my breast, one above the other. Bulger watched this proceeding with
3:27:13
somewhat of displeasure in his eyes. He had half an idea that these silent
3:27:18
people might play some hurtful trick upon his little master, But my smile soon
3:27:22
disarmed his suspicion. Singing Fingers now drew near and as her sweet face,
3:27:28
with its sightless eyes turned full upon me, I could hardly keep back the
3:27:31
tears, And yet why grieve for any one who seemed to be so perfectly
3:27:35
happy? A smile played around her dainty little mouth, disclosing her tiny,
3:27:41
silvery white teeth like so many real pearls, and her bosom rose and fell
3:27:46
quickly, sending forth a faint breathing sound. She looked so like a radiant
3:27:52
child of some of the world, that before I thought, I cried out,
3:27:56
speak, oh, speak, beautiful child in an inchan that she drew
3:28:00
back, affrightened, for the sudden vibration of the air had startled her.
3:28:03
But I reached out and touched her hand to give her to understand that she
3:28:07
need fear nothing. And then she drew near to me again. Suddenly her
3:28:11
beautiful hands, with their long, frailed, delicate fingers, were lifted into
3:28:16
the air, and she began to sway her body and to wave her hands
3:28:20
in gentle and graceful motions, as if keeping time with some music. Gradually
3:28:24
she drew nearer to me, and ever and anon, her silken finger tips
3:28:28
touched my hands or arms as if they were a keyboard, and she was
3:28:33
about to begin to execute a soft and dainty bit of music. I noticed
3:28:39
that her fingers had some delightful perfume upon them. Now fast and faster,
3:28:45
the gentle taps rain upon me with rhythmic regularity. They soothed me, They
3:28:50
thrilled me. They reached my heart as if they were the sweet notes of
3:28:54
a flute or the soft tones of a singer's voice. The maiden is really
3:29:00
to me. It seems to me that I can understand what she is saying,
3:29:03
or rather thinking, as her dainty finger tips fairly fly hither and thither,
3:29:09
and I can hear her low breathing grow louder and louder. Suddenly she
3:29:13
leaves my hands and arms, and I feel her gentle tapping on my cheeks
3:29:16
and brow so gently, oh so gently, and soothingly her fingers touch me
3:29:22
that at last they feel like rose leaves dragged across my face. The sensation
3:29:28
is so delightful, so like the soft touch of sleep to weary eyes,
3:29:33
that I drop off in good earnest. And when after a moment or so
3:29:37
I opened my eyes, there sat the smiling form of folk, waiting for
3:29:41
me to awake. And there stood the radiant visage, singing fingers in front
3:29:45
of me, childlike waiting to be commended. And so you see, dear
3:29:50
friends, that it is not so hard to be happy after all, if
3:29:54
you only set about it in the right way. The former folk seemed to
3:29:58
have set about it in the right way, judging by results, and they
3:30:01
are the only things we have to judge by. Some men will fish all
3:30:05
day and not have a bite, and some people will try their whole lives
3:30:09
to catch happiness and not get any more than a nibble. They don't use
3:30:13
the right kind of fit. Let him try a kind act, a live
3:30:18
one. There was something I wanted to ask of the learned barrel brow,
3:30:22
So the next call I made on him, I put this question to him,
3:30:26
Is it possible, learned master, that thy people have absolutely no guide,
3:30:31
no overseer, no rulers. The great scholar of the former folks seized
3:30:35
reading the four books which lay opened before him, one under each hand and
3:30:39
one under each foot. As I handed him my silver tablet, Little baron
3:30:46
was his reply. If there were only a bramble bush big enough for all
3:30:50
you people of the upper world to jump into, and if you could only
3:30:54
get rid of your ears too, You would soon be rid of your rulers
3:30:58
who oppress you, who pray upon you. For no one would have any
3:31:01
desire to be a ruler if there was no one left to look at him,
3:31:05
and if he couldn't hear what the flatterers said about him. Vanity is
3:31:09
the soil that rulers spring from, as the mushrooms spring from the rich loam
3:31:15
of our dark caverns. They pretend that it is the exercise of power that
3:31:20
they are so fond of. Believe them not, it is the gratification of
3:31:24
their vanity, and nothing else. If it were only in thy power to
3:31:30
say to every man who itched to be a ruler, will and good brother
3:31:33
a ruler, thou shalt be but bear in mind, weak man, that
3:31:37
when thou hast on thy gaudy uniform and mounted thy gaily caparison steed, when
3:31:43
thou ridest at the head of troop and cavalcade, with ten thousand armed men
3:31:48
following thee on foot as slaves their master, and the plaudits of the foolish
3:31:54
multitude rend the air, no eye shall witness the splendor of thy triumph,
3:31:58
No ear catch a sound of the deafening cheers. Take my word for it,
3:32:03
little baron. No one would want to be a ruler any more.
3:32:07
Where there are no rulers, little baron, continued the learned barrel brow,
3:32:11
there can be no followers. Where there are no followers, there will be
3:32:16
no quarreling. When it becomes necessary. In our nation, we form the
3:32:20
great circle for deliberation. Each man writes out what he thinks on his tablet.
3:32:26
Then the opinions are read and counted, and the majority rules. But
3:32:31
we form the great circle only in times of urgent need. Generally speaking,
3:32:35
the smaller circles answer all the purposes. In fact, the family circle is
3:32:39
in most cases quite sufficient. I touched first barrel Brow's heart in token of
3:32:45
my gratitude for the many things which he had taught me, and then the
3:32:48
back of his head to bid him good night. You may imagine his and
3:32:52
my delight, dear friends, when the wise bulgar raised himself on his hind
3:32:56
legs and with his right paw also thank the learned barrel brow, and then
3:33:01
bade him good night by a light tap on the back of his head.
3:33:05
Fortunate, the traveler, wrote the learned pseudopsy, attended by so wise and
3:33:11
watchful a companion. True like a child, he goes on all fours,
3:33:16
but by so doing he brings his heart and his brains on the same level.
3:33:20
The only way for a man to wear them if he would do his
3:33:22
fellow creatures any good. The trouble with thy people in the upper world,
3:33:26
Little Baron, is that they think too much. They clasp minds instead of
3:33:31
clasping hands. They send messengers with gifts instead of giving themselves. They hire
3:33:39
people to dance for them, to sing for them, to be merry for
3:33:43
them. They will not be satisfied until they have hired people to help them.
3:33:46
Be sorry to whom they may say, my friend is dead, I
3:33:50
loved him. Weep three whole days for him. End. Chapter nineteen.
3:33:58
Chapter twenty. This is a long and sad chapter. It tells how dear
3:34:03
gentle pouting Lip was lost and how the Soudopsis grieved for him and whom they
3:34:09
suspected. Bulgar gives a striking proof of his wonderful intelligence, which enables me
3:34:16
to convince the Pseudopsis that my dancing inspector did not cause pouting Lip's death.
3:34:22
The true tale of his terrible fate. What follows my discovery how a beautiful
3:34:28
boat is built for me by the grateful pseudopsies, and how Bulgar and I
3:34:31
bid adieu to the land of the make believes twas the custom in the city
3:34:37
of Silver to touch all around, as it was called, before going to
3:34:41
rest. The touch all around I began in a certain quarter of the city
3:34:46
and passed with wonderful rapidity from man to man. Exactly how it was done
3:34:50
I never could understand. But the purpose of the mysterious signaling was to make
3:34:54
an actual count of all the form of folk. If a single one were
3:34:58
missing, it would most surely discovered by the time the touch all around had
3:35:03
been completed. It proceeded with lightning like rapidity throughout the city. And then
3:35:07
if no return signal was made, the people knew that every one was in
3:35:11
his proper place, and that no pseudopsy had lost his way or fallen ill
3:35:16
in some unfrequented passage. I don't think that I had more than dropped off
3:35:20
to sleep when I was aroused by Bulger's gentle tugging at my sleeve, rubbing
3:35:24
my eyes. I sat up in bed and listened. Instantly my ear caught
3:35:28
that faint shuffling sound which was always perceptible. When any number of the former
3:35:33
folk were hurrying hither and thither over the polished silver pavement, I sprang out
3:35:39
of bed and rushed to the door, bulgar close at my heels. What
3:35:43
a strange sight confronted me. I could compare it to nothing, save to
3:35:48
the appearance of a large ant hill. When some mischievous boys suddenly drops a
3:35:52
stone among the crowd of petty, patient, plodding people peacefully pursuing their work.
3:35:58
In an instant and all is changed. Lines are broken, workmen jostle
3:36:03
workmen. Order becomes disorder. Regularity is changed to confusion. Hither and thither
3:36:09
the affrightened creatures rush with waving feelers, seeking for the cause of the mad
3:36:13
outburst of terror. So it was with a former folk, as I looked
3:36:16
out upon them with outstretched hands and tremulously moving fingers. They rushed from side
3:36:22
to side, jostling and bumping one another, while a nameless dread was depicted
3:36:28
upon their upturned faces. Anon a group would halt, join hands and begin
3:36:33
to exchange thoughts by lightning like pressures, tappings, and strokes, when others
3:36:37
would dash against them, break them apart, and confusion would reign greater than
3:36:41
ever. But gradually I noted that some sort of order seemed to be coming
3:36:46
out of the movements of this mad throng. Here and there groups of three
3:36:50
and forward foreman clasp hands. Then these smaller circles would break and form into
3:36:56
larger ones. And I noted too that this ever increased circle was formed on
3:37:01
the outside of the panic stricken crowd, and as it grew, it shut
3:37:05
them in, so that when a fleeing Sudopsy hurtled up against this steady line,
3:37:09
his terror left him at once, and he took his place in it.
3:37:13
In a few moments, the madly, pushing, jostling throng had disappeared
3:37:16
entirely, and the whole city was girt round by these long, steady lines.
3:37:22
The great circle had been formed. After half an hour, the deliberation
3:37:26
was completed, and to my surprise, the great circle broke up into squads
3:37:31
and companies of fours and sixes and tens, and then each disappeared, slowly
3:37:35
and steadily with locksteps, passing out of the city into dark or only partially
3:37:41
lighted chambers and passages that surrounded it. The search for the missing pseudopsy had
3:37:46
been begun. It was hours before the last squad had returned to the square,
3:37:52
and the great circle had been formed again. Alas the news was sad,
3:37:56
indeed, there came no tidings of the missing man. He was lost
3:38:00
forever, And with clasped hands and slow and heavy step, the grieving former
3:38:05
folk made their way back to their homes, where the sine, women and
3:38:09
children were awaiting their coming. As Bulger and I went back to bed again,
3:38:13
it almost seemed to me as if I could hear at times the deep
3:38:16
and long drawn sighs that escaped from the gentle breasts of the sorrowing pseudopsies.
3:38:22
I noticed a very touching thing on the following day. It was that every
3:38:28
man, woman and child in the city of Silver grieve for the lost p
3:38:31
Sudopsy, as if he were actually brother to each one of them. Love
3:38:35
was not, as with us in the upper world, a thing bestowed upon
3:38:39
those in whom we see our own vacees repeated, and in whose voices we
3:38:43
hear our own ring out again, sweet and clear as in our childhood.
3:38:48
In other words, a love almost of our very selves. Oh No,
3:38:54
while it was true that a mother's touch was most tender to her own child.
3:38:58
Yet no little and stretched out to her went without its caress. She
3:39:03
was mother to them. All to her they were all beautiful, and as
3:39:07
their little frocks were all woven in the same loom, there never could come
3:39:11
into her mind a temptation to feel whether a rich neighbor's child was playing with
3:39:15
hers, and that therefore it ought to receive a more loving caress. In
3:39:18
that portion of the city where the children had their playgrounds, the silver pavement
3:39:22
was in some places marked off with raised lines and letters, something after the
3:39:28
manner of our hopscotch, for the purpose of a game which was very popular
3:39:31
with the little sodopsis. Its name is hard to translate, but it meant
3:39:35
something like Little Boogeyman. And many an hour had Bulgar and I stood there
3:39:39
watching these silent little gnomes at play, fascinated by the wonderful skill which they
3:39:45
would display in feigning the drawing near the little Bogeyman, their hiding from him,
3:39:50
his stealthy approach, the increasing danger, the attack, the escape,
3:39:54
the new dangers, wild flight, and mad pursuit fancy. Therefore my astonishment
3:40:01
one morning to note that Bulgar was coaxing me thither, although the place was
3:40:05
quite deserted, the children being all at their lessons. But as it was
3:40:09
a rule of mine always to humor Bulgar's whims, I went patiently along.
3:40:13
In a moment, as we came to the spot where the pavement was marked
3:40:16
off and inscribed as I have explained, he halted, and, with an
3:40:20
anxious wine, began to play the game of the little Boogeyman, turning every
3:40:24
now and then to see what effect his actions had upon me. He made
3:40:28
no mistakes. As he entered each compartment. He rested his paw upon the
3:40:33
raised letters, as he had so often seen the children do with their little
3:40:35
bare feet, and then mimic with wonderful fidelity their actions, beginning with the
3:40:41
first scent of danger and ending with mad terror. At the close pursuit of
3:40:45
the Boogeyman. I was more than surprised. I was bewildered by this piece
3:40:50
of mimicry on Bulgar's part. To my mind, it boded some terrible accident
3:40:54
to him. For I have a superstitious notion that great danger to an animal's
3:40:58
life gives him for the moment and almost human intelligence. It is nature caring
3:41:03
for her own. But all of a sudden, the real truth in this
3:41:07
case burst upon me. It was not my dear little brother giving me to
3:41:11
understand that some peril was threatening him, but that some danger was hanging over
3:41:15
my head, the more real in that it was unseen and unsuspected by me.
3:41:20
I called him to me and rewarded him with a caress. He was
3:41:24
overjoyed to note that I had apparently understood him. I now made haste to
3:41:28
seek out barrel Brow. He was surprised to feel my salutation in a moment
3:41:33
or so I had told him all. Nor was he slow in detecting my
3:41:35
excitement. He no doubt felt that, in the changed character of my handwriting,
3:41:41
calm thyself, little Baron, He wrote, the wise bulgar has told
3:41:46
the truth. Thy life is in danger. I had resolved to send for
3:41:50
thee this very day, to warn thee of it, to bid thee quit
3:41:54
the land of the former folk, in all haste, for the notion had
3:41:56
spread among our people that it was the advancing spector at thy heels which caused
3:42:01
the death of the gentle pouting Lip, who disappeared so mysteriously the other day.
3:42:05
I therefore counsel thee that thou make ready at once to quit our city
3:42:09
tomorrow before the clocks roused the people from their sleep. I thanked berrel Brow
3:42:13
and promised that I would heed his advice, although I confessed to him that
3:42:18
I would fain have bided a few weeks longer. There were so many things
3:42:20
in and about the wonderful city of Silver that I had not seen. But
3:42:24
I owed it to the dear hearts of my own world to take the best
3:42:28
care of my life. Insignificant though it might appear to me, then again,
3:42:33
I felt that it would be madness to attempt to reason with the pseudopsys.
3:42:37
To them, the dancing specter at my heels was a real being of
3:42:39
flesh and bud, although they had not been able to seize him, and
3:42:43
it was really natural for them to suspect that we had made away. With
3:42:48
pouting lip calling out to Bulgar to follow me, I left berrel Brow's home,
3:42:52
resolved to make one more round of the wonderful city, and then pack
3:42:56
up some food and clothing, and be all ready for a start before the
3:42:58
clocks began. I should explain, dear friends, that as happens in all
3:43:03
cities, the people of this one, imagined at times that they hadn't quite
3:43:07
elbow room enough, and hence they surveyed other chambers and set up new candelabra
3:43:13
within them in order to chase the cold and dampness away and make them fit
3:43:16
for human habitations. In the last one, which they had in this way
3:43:20
annexed to their fair city, fitting it with a silver doorway and tiling the
3:43:24
floor with polished plates of the same beautiful metal, they had discovered a hard
3:43:28
mound, apparently of rock, in one corner, and had resolved that they
3:43:33
would come some day with their drills and picks and begin the task of removing
3:43:37
this mound. A strange inclination came upon me to visit this new chamber in
3:43:43
order to inspect the work of these eyeless workmen and see how far they have
3:43:46
proceeded with their task of transforming a cold and rocky vault into a bright,
3:43:50
warm, healthy habitation. Imagine my surprise to hear Vulgar utter a low growl
3:43:56
as we reached the entrance, and I put out my hand to swing the
3:44:00
door open, for the pseudopsis were not at work there that day, and
3:44:03
the place was as silent as a tomb. Glancing through the grating, a
3:44:09
sight met my gaze, which caused my flesh to creep and my hair to
3:44:13
stiffen. What think, ye was it? Why the mound in the cotton
3:44:18
was rocking and swaying, and from underneath one end issued a loud and angry
3:44:22
hissing. I'm no coward, if I do say it myself, but this
3:44:26
was just a little too much for ordinary or even extraordinary flesh to bear without
3:44:31
flinching. I staggered back with a suppressed cry of horror, and was upon
3:44:35
the point of breaking into a mad flight when the thought flashed through my mind
3:44:41
that the door was securely fastened, and that there would be no danger in
3:44:45
my taking another look at the terrible monster thus caged in this chamber. A
3:44:50
great snakelike head was now lifted from beneath one edge of the mound, and
3:44:56
on the end of a long, swaying neck. Its great round eyes,
3:45:01
big as an oxus, stared with dull, cold, glassy look from wall
3:45:07
to wall, and then, with an awful outburst of hissing, the whole
3:45:11
mound was suddenly raised upon four great legs, thick as posts and ending in
3:45:16
terrible claws. And porn, rocking and swaying into the center of the chamber.
3:45:22
What was this terrible monster? And where had it come from? Why?
3:45:26
I saw through it all now at a glance. It was a gigantic
3:45:31
tortoise eight feet long by five wide at least, and once an inhabitant of
3:45:39
the upper world thousands and thousands of years ago, by the coming of the
3:45:43
awful fields of ice, that had been forced to fly from certain death by
3:45:46
crawling down into these underground caverns. Here, chilled and numbed by the dampness
3:45:52
and cold, it had fallen asleep, and would have continued to sleep on
3:45:58
for other ages to come, had not the industrious form of folk lighted the
3:46:03
clusters of burning jets of gas in the monster's bedroom. Gradually the warmth had
3:46:07
penetrated the roof of shell made thicker by earth and layer of broken rock,
3:46:13
which the tooth of time had dropped upon it, and reached his great heart
3:46:18
and set it beating again, slowly, very slowly, but faster and faster,
3:46:22
until he really felt that he had awakened from his long sleep by a
3:46:28
terrible misfortune. Pouting lip, the gentle Sodopsy had happened to be left behind
3:46:35
when his brother laborers quit work and the new silver doors of the chamber had
3:46:39
been closed upon him. Oh, it was terrible to think of, but
3:46:46
true it must have been the poor little Soudopsy, shut in by his own
3:46:50
eyeless folk in this chamber, which he was helping to beautify by his patient's
3:46:54
skill, had served to satisfy the hunger of this awful monster after his long
3:47:01
ages of fasting. But why you ask, dear friends, was all this
3:47:05
not discovered when the great circle had been formed and the search was made for
3:47:09
him? Simply because the monster, after devouring the lost Soudopsy, retreated to
3:47:16
his nest and drew the dirt and crumbled rock up around him with its gigantic
3:47:20
flippers, and went to sleep again, as all gorged reptiles do, So
3:47:26
that when the searchers entered the new chamber, all was as they had left
3:47:28
it, the mound of rock as they had supposed it to be, in
3:47:33
the corner, undisturbed. With bulgar at my heels, I now turned and
3:47:37
ran with such mad haste to barrel brows that the whole city was thrown into
3:47:41
the wildest disorder, For of course they had felt me fly past them with
3:47:48
all the quickness I could command. I wrote an account of what I had
3:47:50
witnessed, and when Beryl Brow communicated it to the assembled pseudopsies, a thousand
3:47:54
hands flew into the air in token of mingled, fright and wonder, and
3:47:58
a wild rush was made for Bulgar and me, and we were well nigh
3:48:03
smothered with kisses and caresses. The moment the excitement had quieted down a little,
3:48:07
a great circle was immediately formed, and I was honored with a place
3:48:11
in it. And when my tablet was passed about a thousand hands made signs
3:48:16
of ascent. My plan was a simple one. It was to make a
3:48:20
pipe connection between up a slop and the new chamber, and to turn the
3:48:24
deadly vapor into the sleepy department of the gigantic Monster. In this manner,
3:48:31
his despatch would be a happy one, merely a beginning of another one of
3:48:33
his long naps, so far as he would know anything about it. This
3:48:39
was done at once, care, first being taken to make the doors of
3:48:41
the new chamber perfectly air tight. I was the first to enter the cavern
3:48:46
after the execution of the monster, and found to my delight that my estimate
3:48:52
of his length and width was correct almost to an inch. I had always
3:48:56
had a wonderful eye for dimension and distances. Slain Bulgar raising himself upon his
3:49:01
hind legs and make an effort to dislodge something from the wall. I drew
3:49:05
nearer to assist him. Alas it was dear gentle pouting lips tablet. He
3:49:13
had been writing upon it, and as the terrible monster advanced upon him,
3:49:16
he had reached up and hung it upon a silver pin on the wall.
3:49:20
When the pseudopsis read what their poor brother had written there, they all sat
3:49:24
down and wrung their hands in silent but awful grief. It ran as follows,
3:49:30
O, my people, why have ye abandoned me? The air trembles.
3:49:35
The whole place is filled with suffocating odor. Must I die? Alas
3:49:39
I fear it, and yet I would so love to feel my dear ones
3:49:43
touch us once more. The crown trembles, A staxling breath is puffed into
3:49:48
my face. I am wearied, almost fainting by trying to escape it.
3:49:52
I can write no more. Don't grieve too long over me. It was
3:49:56
my fault. I stayed behind when I should have followed. Oh, horrible
3:50:01
horrible farewell. I'm going now e loven touch to all farewell. After waiting
3:50:09
a few days for the grief of the former folk to lighten a little,
3:50:13
I asked them to send a number of their most skillful workmen to assist me
3:50:16
in removing the magnificent shell from the dead monster, whose body was fed to
3:50:20
the fishes. They not only did this, but they also offered to transform
3:50:26
the shell into a beautiful boat for me, so that when I resolved to
3:50:28
bid them adieu, I might sail away from the city of Silver and not
3:50:33
be obliged to trudge along the marble highway. The work went on apace.
3:50:37
At first the polishers began their task, and in a few days the mighty
3:50:41
carapace glowed like a lady's comb. Then the dainty and cunning craftsmen in silver
3:50:48
began their part of the work, and ere many days the shell was fitted
3:50:52
with a silver prow, curiously rocked like a swan's neck and head, while
3:50:56
quaintly carved trimmings ran here and there, and a dainty pair of silver skulls
3:51:03
with a silver rudder, beautifully chaste, from which ran two little silken ropes
3:51:07
were added to the outfit. I never had seen anything half so rich and
3:51:13
rare, and I was as proud of it as a young king of his
3:51:16
throne before he finds it is so much like my ship of shell. And
3:51:22
last the day came when I was to bid the gentle pseudopsies a long farewell.
3:51:28
They lined the shore as Bulger and I proceeded to take our place in
3:51:31
the bark of shell, which sat upon the water like a thing of life.
3:51:35
It was with great show of dignity that Bulgar took his position in the
3:51:37
stern, with the tiller ropes in his mouth, ready to pull on either
3:51:41
side as I might direct, and setting the silver origin place, I threw
3:51:46
my weight upon them, and away we glided, swiftly and noiselessly over the
3:51:50
surface of the dark and sluggish stream. In a few moments, nothing but
3:51:56
a faint glimmer was left to remind us of the wonderful city of Silver,
3:52:00
where the silent form of folk live and love and labor, without ever a
3:52:05
thought that human beings could be any happier than they Dear happy folk, They
3:52:09
have solved a mighty problem of which we of the upper world are still struggling
3:52:15
over. End of Chapter twenty Chapter twenty one, How we were lighted on
3:52:22
our way down the dark and silent river. Sudden and fierce onslaught upon our
3:52:26
beautiful boat of shell, a fight for life against terrible odds, and how
3:52:31
Bulgar stood by me through it. All. Cold air and lumps of ice
3:52:37
are entry into the cavern. Whence they came? The boat of Shell comes
3:52:41
to the end of its forage. Sunlight in the world within a world,
3:52:46
and all about the wonderful window through which it poured and the mysterious land it
3:52:50
lighted. I dare say, dear friends, that you are puzzling your brains
3:52:54
to think out how it was possible for me to row away from the wonderful
3:52:58
city of the former folk without running our boat continually ashore. Ah, you
3:53:03
forget that the keen eyed Bulger was at the helm, and that it was
3:53:07
not the first time that he had piloted me through darkness impenetrable to my eyes.
3:53:11
But more than this, I soon discovered that the plashing of my silver
3:53:15
oars kept my little friends, the fire lizards, in a constant state of
3:53:20
alarm. And although I couldn't hear the crackling of their tails, yet the
3:53:24
tiny flashes of light served to outline the shore admirably. So I pulled away
3:53:28
with a will and down this dark and silent river, for there was a
3:53:33
current, although hardly perceptible. Bulgar and Eye were borne along in the beautiful
3:53:37
bark of Tortoiseshell, with its prow of carved and burnished silver. During my
3:53:43
sojourn in the land of the Pseudopsies, I had one day, while calling
3:53:46
upon the learned barrel Brow, noticed a beautifully carved silver hand lamp of the
3:53:52
Pompeian pattern among his curiosities. I asked him if he knew what it was.
3:53:58
He replied that he did at that it had doubtless been brought from the
3:54:01
upper world by his people, and he begged me to accept it as a
3:54:07
keepsake. I did so, and upon leaving the city of Silver, I
3:54:11
filled it with fish oil and fitted a silken wick to it. It was
3:54:15
well that I had done so, for after a while the fire lizards disappeared
3:54:18
entirely, and Bulgar and I would have been left in total darkness had I
3:54:22
not drawn forth my beautiful silver lamp, lighted it and suspended it from the
3:54:26
beak of the silver swan, which curved its graceful neck above the bow of
3:54:31
our boat. After lying on my oars long enough to set some food before
3:54:35
bulgar and partake a sum myself, I again started on my voyage down the
3:54:39
silent river, no longer shrouded in impenetrable gloom. I had not taken over
3:54:46
half a dozen strokes when suddenly one of my oars was almost twisted out of
3:54:50
my hand by a vicious tug from some inhabitant of these dark and sluggish waters.
3:54:56
I resolved to quicken my stroke in order to escape another such a wrench,
3:55:00
for the silver oars fashioned by the Pseudopsis for me, were a very
3:55:03
delicate make, intended only for very gentle usage. Suddenly, another vicious snap
3:55:09
was made at my other oar, and this time the animals succeeded in retaining
3:55:13
its hold, for I dared not attempt to wrench the oar out of its
3:55:16
grip for fear of breaking it. It was a large crustacean of the crab
3:55:20
family, and its milk white shell gave it a ghost like look as it
3:55:24
struggled about in the black waters, fiercely intent to keep its hold upon the
3:55:28
oar. The next instant, a similar creature had fastened firmly upon my other
3:55:35
oar, and there I sat utterly helpless. But worse than this, the
3:55:39
dark waters were now fairly alive, with these white armored guards of this underworld
3:55:43
stream, each apparently bent upon setting an immediate end to my progress through their
3:55:50
domain. They now began a series of furious efforts to lay hold of the
3:55:54
sides of my boat with their large claws, but happily, its polished surface
3:55:58
made this impossible for them to accomplish. Up to this moment, Bulgar had
3:56:03
not stirred a muscle or uttered a sound, But now a sharp growl from
3:56:07
him told me that something serious had happened at his end of the boat.
3:56:11
It was serious, indeed, for several of the largest of the fierce crustaceans
3:56:16
had laid hold of the rudder and were wrenching it from side to side as
3:56:20
if to tear it off. Every attempt, of course, caused a tug
3:56:24
at the tiller ropes held between Bulgar's teeth, But bracing himself firmly, he
3:56:30
resisted their furious efforts as well as he could, and succeeded in saving the
3:56:33
rudder for the time being. All of a sudden, our frail bark of
3:56:39
shell crashed into some sort of obstruction and came to a dead standstill. Peering
3:56:45
into the darkness. To my horror, I saw that the wily enemy had
3:56:50
spanned the river with chains made up of living lynks, by each laying hold
3:56:54
of his neighbor's claw, the chain thus formed, being then rendered almost as
3:56:58
strong as steel by the interweaving of their double rows of small hooked legs.
3:57:03
Our advance was not only blocked, but death, an awful death, seemed
3:57:09
to be staring us in the face. For what possible hope of escape could
3:57:13
there be if Bulger and I should leap into the water, now alive,
3:57:16
with these fast swimming creatures whirling their huge claws about in search for some way
3:57:22
to get at us. From the brave manner in which Bulger was holding the
3:57:26
madly swinging helm, I saw that he was determined not to surrender. But
3:57:31
alas bravery is but a sorry thing for two to fight a thousand with.
3:57:37
And yet I had not lost my head. Don't think that true. I
3:57:41
was hard pressed the very dust of the balance. If thicker on their side
3:57:45
might make my scale kick the beam, I had hauled both oars into the
3:57:50
boat by reaching over and beating off the claws fastened upon them, and had
3:57:54
up to this moment driven back every one of the fierce creatures which had succeeded
3:57:58
in throwing one of its claws or the edge of the boat. But now,
3:58:01
to my horror, I felt that our little craft was being slowly but
3:58:05
surely drawn stern first toward the river bank. In order to accomplish this,
3:58:09
the crustaceans had thrown out a line composed of their bodies gripped together, and
3:58:13
had made it fast to the rudder. Not an instant was to be lost.
3:58:18
Once upon the river bank, the fierce creatures would swarm around us by
3:58:22
the ten thousands, drag us down, pinch us to death, and tear
3:58:26
us piecemeal. An idea flashed upon me. It was this, It is
3:58:31
folly to attempt to resist these countless swarms of crustaceans by the use of one
3:58:35
pair of weak hands, even though they be aided by Bulger's keen and willing
3:58:39
teeth. We should, after a brief struggle, go down, as the
3:58:43
brave man in the sewer went down when the famished rats leaped upon him from
3:58:48
every side at once, or as the stray buffalo goes down when the pack
3:58:52
of ravenous wolves closes up its circle about him. If I am to save
3:58:56
my life, it must be by striking a blow that will reach every one
3:59:01
of these small but fierce enemies at the same instant, and thus paralyzed them,
3:59:05
or at least bewildered them, until I can succeed in making my escape.
3:59:09
Quickly, drawing my brace of pistols, I held their muzzles close to
3:59:13
the water and discharged them at the same instant. The effect was terrific,
3:59:16
like a crash of a terrible thunderbolt. The report burst forth and echoed through
3:59:22
these vast and silent chambers, until it seemed as if the great vaulted roof
3:59:26
of rock had, by some awful convulsion of nature, been cast roaring and
3:59:30
rattling down upon the face of these black and sluggish waters. When the smoke
3:59:35
had cleared away, a strange but welcome sight met my gaze. Tens of
3:59:41
thousands of the huge crabs floated lifeless upon the surface of the river, with
3:59:46
their shells split by the concussion the full length of their bodies. It proved
3:59:50
to have been a masterly stroke on my part, and dear friends, you
3:59:54
will believe me when I tell you that I drew a deep breath as I
3:59:58
set my silver oar against the thole pins, and, having worked my boat
4:00:03
clear of the swarm of stunned crustaceans, rowed away for dear life, dear
4:00:07
life. Ah, yes, dear life. For whose life is not dear
4:00:11
to him? Even though it be dark and gloomy at times? Is there
4:00:15
not always something or some one to live for? Is there not always a
4:00:18
glimmer of hope that the morrow's sun will go up brighter than it did this
4:00:22
morning? Well, anyway, I repeat that I rode away for dear life,
4:00:28
while Bulgar held the tiller ropes and kept our frail bark of polished shell
4:00:31
in the middle of the stream. Whether the air was actually colder, or
4:00:35
whether it was merely the natural chill that so often strikes the human heart after
4:00:39
it had been beating and throbbing with alternate hope and fear, I couldn't say
4:00:45
at the time, But I knew this much, that I suddenly found myself
4:00:48
suffering from the cold for the first time since my descent into the world within
4:00:54
a world. The air nipped my finger tips. That soft, balmy,
4:00:58
June like atmosphere was gone, and I made haste to put on my fur
4:01:01
trimmed top coat, which I had not made much use of lately. At
4:01:05
that moment, one of my oars struck against some hard substance floating in the
4:01:09
waters. I put out my hand to feel of it. To my great
4:01:13
surprise, it proved to be a lump of ice, and very soon another
4:01:16
and another went floating by us. We were most surely entering a region where
4:01:22
it was cold enough to make ice. I was not sorry for this,
4:01:24
for, to tell the truth, Bulgar and I were both beginning to feel
4:01:28
the effects of our long sojourn in the rocky chambers of this underworld, whose
4:01:31
atmosphere, though soft and warm, yet lacked the elasticity of the open air
4:01:37
ice caverns would be a complete change, and the cold air would no doubt
4:01:41
send our blood tingling through our veins, just as if we were out a
4:01:45
slain in the upper world on a winter's night, when the stars twinkle over
4:01:48
our heads and the snow crystals creak beneath our runners. Soon now huge icicles
4:01:54
began to dot the roof of rock that spanned the river, and shafts and
4:01:58
columns of ice dimly visible along the shore, seemed to be standing there like
4:02:03
silent sentries, watching our boat as it threaded its way through the ever narrowing
4:02:07
channel, and now to a faint glow of light reached us from I knew
4:02:11
not where, so that by straining my eyes I could see that the river
4:02:16
had taken a sweep and entered a vast cavern with roof and walls of ice
4:02:20
fretted and carved into fantastic depths and niches, and shells and cornices, with
4:02:26
hearing, their shapes so fanciful that it seemed to me I had entered some
4:02:31
vast hall of statuary, where hero and warrior, Nymph and maiden shepherd and
4:02:35
bird catcher filled these shells and niches in glorious array. Farther advance by water
4:02:41
was impossible, for the blocks of ice, knitted together like a floe,
4:02:46
closed the river completely. I therefore determined to make a landing, draw my
4:02:50
boat upon the shore, and continue my journey on foot. The mysterious light,
4:02:54
which up to this moment had shed its pale glimmer like an Arctic night,
4:02:58
upon the roofs and walls of ice of these silent chambers now began to
4:03:03
strengthen, so that Bulgar and I had no difficulty in picking our way along
4:03:07
the shore. In fact, we crossed and recrossed the river itself when the
4:03:11
whim seized us, for it now went winding on ahead of us, like
4:03:15
a broad ribbon of ice through caverns and corridors. Suddenly I came to a
4:03:18
halt and stood as motionless as the fantastic forms of ice surrounding me. What
4:03:24
could it mean? Were my eyes weakened by my long sojourn in the world
4:03:28
within a world playing me cruel tricks. Surely there can be no mistake,
4:03:33
I whispered to myself. That light yonder, which pours its glorious effulgence upon
4:03:39
those spires and pinnacles, those towers and turrets of ice, is the sunshine
4:03:45
of the upper world. Can it be that my marvelous underground journey is ended,
4:03:50
that I stand upon the threshold of the upper world once more? Bulgar
4:03:56
too recognizes this flood of sunshine, and, breaking out into a fit of
4:04:00
joyous barking, dashes on ahead to be the first one to feel its gentle
4:04:05
warmth. After our long journey through the dark and silent passages of the world
4:04:09
within a world. But I dare not trust my eyes, and, fearing
4:04:13
lest he should fall into some ambush or meet with some dread accident, I
4:04:18
called him back to me. Together we hurry along as rapidly as possible.
4:04:24
Now I note that we are drawing near to the end of the vast corridor
4:04:26
through which we have been making our way for some time, and that we
4:04:31
stand upon the portal of a mighty subterranean region, lighted with real sunlight.
4:04:37
It stretches away as far as the eye can reach, And so high is
4:04:41
the roof that spans this vast underworld that I cannot see whether it be of
4:04:46
ice or not. All that I can see is that through one of its
4:04:50
sloping sides there streams a mighty torrent of sunlight, which pours its splendor with
4:04:56
unstinting hand upon the wide highways, the broad terraces, the sheer parapets,
4:05:01
and the sloping banks which diversify this ice world. Can it be that one
4:05:07
side of this mighty mountain, which nature has here hollowed out and set like
4:05:11
a peaked roof over this vast subterranean region, is a gigantic window of ice
4:05:16
itself, through which the sunlight of the outer world streams in this grand way,
4:05:20
like a silent cataract of light, like a deluge of sunshine. No,
4:05:24
this could not be, for now, upon a second look, I
4:05:28
saw that this flood of light, thus streaming through the side of the mountain,
4:05:31
came through it like a mighty pencil of rays, and striking the opposite
4:05:35
walls with its brilliancy a hundredfold increased, rebounded in a thousand directions, flooding
4:05:43
the whole region with its effulgence, and dying away in faint and pearl like
4:05:46
glimmer in the vast approach where I had first noted it. And therefore I
4:05:52
understood that Nature must have set a gigantic lens twice a thousand feet or more
4:05:56
in diameter in the sloping side of this mountain, a perfect lens of purest
4:06:01
rock crystal, which, in gathering in its mysterious bosom, the sunlight of
4:06:07
the outer world threw it intensely radiant and dazzling white into the gloomy depths of
4:06:13
this world within a world, so that when the sun went up out there,
4:06:16
it went up and here as well. But became cold as it was
4:06:20
beautiful, bringing no warmth, no other cheer save light to this subterranean region,
4:06:26
which for thousands of centuries had lain locked in the crystal embrace of frozen
4:06:31
lakes and brooks, and rivers and torrents and waterfalls, once bubbling and flowing
4:06:37
and rushing headlong through fair lands of the Upper World, but suddenly checked in
4:06:41
their course by some bursting forth of mighty pent up forces, and turned downward
4:06:48
into these icy depths, condemned to everlasting rest and silence, their crystals locked
4:06:54
in a sleep that never would know an awakening, mocked in their dreams by
4:07:00
this mysterious sunlight that came with the smile and the fair, winsome look of
4:07:05
the real, and yet was so powerless to set them free as once it
4:07:09
did when the springtime came in the upper world. All these thoughts, and
4:07:15
many others besides, flitted through my mind as I stood looking up at that
4:07:20
mighty lens in its setting of mightier rock, And so deeply impressed was I
4:07:26
by the sight of such a great flood of sunlight pouring through this gigantic bull's
4:07:30
eye which Nature had set in the rocky side of the hollow mountain peak and
4:07:35
illumining this underworld. That the longer I gazed upon the wonderful spectacle, the
4:07:39
more firmly enthralled my senses became by it. The deep silence, the deliciously
4:07:45
pure air, the ever varying tints of the light, as the mighty ice
4:07:48
columns acting the part of prisms, literally filled those vast chambers with the rainbow's
4:07:54
glorious glow, imparted unto the spell resting upon me such an earthly power that
4:08:01
it might have held me there until my limbs hardened into icy crystals, and
4:08:05
my eyes looked out with a frozen stare, had not the ever watchful bulgar
4:08:09
given a gentle tug at the skirt of my coat and aroused me from my
4:08:13
enthralling meditation. End of Chapter twenty one. Chapter twenty two. The Palace
4:08:22
of Ice in the golden sunlight, and what I imagined it might contain,
4:08:28
how we were halted by a couple of quaintly clad sentinels, the coltyquerps,
4:08:33
his frigid majesty King Gelidus. More about the Ice Palace, together with the
4:08:39
description of the throne room, our reception by the King and his daughter Schniemuleh
4:08:45
brief mention of Bulabrain or Lord Hothead. Scarcely had I advanced a hundred yards
4:08:52
beyond the portal where I had halted. When happening to turn my eyes to
4:08:56
the other side, a sight met them, which sent a thrill of one
4:09:00
and delight through my form. Thereupon the highest terrace stood a palace of ice,
4:09:05
its slender minarets, its high lifted towers, its rounded turrets, its
4:09:11
spacious platform, and its broad flights of steps, all glittering in the sunlight,
4:09:16
as if gem studded and jewel set. It was a spectacle to stir
4:09:20
the most indifferent heart, let alone one so full of ardor and buoyancy as
4:09:24
mine. But, ah, dear friends, even admitting that I can succeed
4:09:28
in awakening in your minds even a faint conception of the beauty of this ice
4:09:33
palace, as the sunlight fell full upon it at that moment, how can
4:09:37
I ever hope to give you an idea of the unearthly beauty of this palace
4:09:41
of ice and its glorious surroundings. When the moon went up in the outer
4:09:46
world at a later hour, and its pale, mysterious light was poured through
4:09:52
the mighty lens in the mountain side, and fell with celestial shimmer upon these
4:09:58
walls of ice. But the one thought that oppressed me now was can this
4:10:01
beautiful bode be without a tenant, without a living soul within its wonderful halls
4:10:07
and chambers? Or may not its dwellers, overtaken by the pitiless cold,
4:10:13
sit with wide opened eyes and icy glare stark as marble, and chairs of
4:10:16
ice, White frosted hair pressed against icy cushions, and hands stiffened around crystal
4:10:22
cups filled with frozen wine of topaz hue, while the harper's fingers cling cramped
4:10:30
to the wires, stiff as the wires themselves, and the last tones of
4:10:35
the singer's voice lie in feathery crystals of frozen breath white at his feet.
4:10:41
Come what may? I resolved to lift the crystal knocker that might hang on
4:10:43
the outer door of this palace of ice, and awaken the Castellan, if
4:10:48
his slumber were not that of death. In a few moments, I had
4:10:52
crossed the level space between me and the first terrace, which it would be
4:10:56
necessary for me to scale in order to reach the second, and then third,
4:11:00
upon which stood the palace of ice. Imagine my more than surprise upon
4:11:05
finding myself now at the foot of a magnificent flight of steps hewn into the
4:11:09
ice with a master hand, and leading to the terrace above. Springing lightly
4:11:15
up this flight with vulgar close at my heels, I suddenly set eyes upon
4:11:18
two of the quaintest looking human beings that I ever remembered seeing in all my
4:11:22
travels. They looked for all the world like two big animated snowballs, being
4:11:28
clad from top to toe in garments made of snow white fleece, their skull
4:11:33
caps likewise of white fur, leaving only their faces visible. In his right
4:11:39
hand, each of them carried a very prettily shaped flint axe mounted upon a
4:11:43
helve of polished bone. Striding up to me and swinging their axes over my
4:11:48
head in altogether two close proximity to my pole to be particularly pleasant, One
4:11:52
of them cries out, halt, sir, Unless his frigid majesty gelidous King
4:11:58
of the cullor Corpse awaits they coming, His guards will let a signal from
4:12:03
us roll a few thousand tons of ice down upon thee If thou darest proceed
4:12:07
another step. Therefore, stand fast and tell us who thou art and whether
4:12:13
thou art expected, gentlemen, said, I kindly lower those axes of yours,
4:12:18
and I will convince you that his frigid Majesty hath nothing to dread in
4:12:22
me, For I am none other than the very small, but very noble
4:12:28
and very famous Sebastian von Trump, commonly known as the Little Baron. Never
4:12:33
heard of thee in all my life, said both of the guards as with
4:12:37
one voice. But I have of you, gentlemen, I continued, for
4:12:41
now I recollected what the learned Don Fume had said about the frozen land of
4:12:46
the Colli corpse or cold bodies. And as proof of my peaceful intent,
4:12:50
like a true knight, I now offer you my hand and beg that you
4:12:54
will conduct me into the presence of his frigid Majesty. No sooner had the
4:12:58
guards stading next to me, drawn off his glove and grasped my hand.
4:13:03
Then he let it loose again with a cry of fright zounds. Man art
4:13:07
thou on fire? Why thy hand burned me like a flame of a lamp.
4:13:11
Why no, my friend, I said quietly, that's my ordinary temperature,
4:13:16
and thy companion hath even a warmer heart than I have, was my
4:13:20
reply. Well, our word for it, little baron, exclaimed one of
4:13:24
the guards with a chuckle. There will be no place for thee except in
4:13:28
the meat quarry. Possibly after thou hast been cooled off for a week or
4:13:31
so, his frigid majesty will be able to have thee about. This was
4:13:37
not a very cheerful prospect, for I had no particular desire to be laid
4:13:41
away in the royal ice box for a week or so. Anyway, the
4:13:45
only thing to be done was to insist upon being conducted at once into the
4:13:48
presence of the King of the Colti Corps, and abide by his decision.
4:13:52
One of the guards, having saluted me by presenting his battle axe in real
4:13:56
military style, faced about and began to ass send the grand staircase with intent
4:14:01
to announce my arrival to his frigid majesty, while the other informed me that
4:14:05
he would conduct me as far as the palace. I was wonder struck with
4:14:09
the beauty of the three staircases leading up to the ice Palace, massive bolustrodes
4:14:16
with curiously carved bolusters springing from towering pedestals, crowned with beautiful lamps. All
4:14:22
all I say, all in everything to the crystal clear sides of the lamps
4:14:26
themselves was fashioned from blocks of ice. It proved to be a good climb
4:14:31
to the top of the third terrace, and I was not put out when
4:14:35
the guard solemnly lowered his battle axe of flint to bring me to its standstill.
4:14:39
The sun in the upper world was, no doubt nearing the horizon for
4:14:43
a deep and beautiful twilight suddenly sank upon the icy dominions of King Gelidus,
4:14:48
and to my surprise and delight, through the great slabs of crystal clear ice
4:14:52
which served for windows to the palace, streamed a soft radiance, as if
4:14:56
a thousand wax tapers were burning in the chambers and galleries indoors. It was
4:15:01
a sight to gladden the eyes of any mortal. But if I had been
4:15:05
spellbound by the beauty of its exterior, how shall I tell you, dear
4:15:09
friends, of the curious splendor of the interior of Galadus's Palace of Ice as
4:15:15
it burst upon me when I had crossed its threshold. Hallway led into hallway,
4:15:20
chamber opened into chamber, through portals, gracefully arched and winding staircases,
4:15:24
climbing to upper rooms. While hanging from lofty ceilings or resting on graceful pedestals,
4:15:31
were a thousand alabaster lamps, shedding light and perfume upon this glorious home
4:15:35
of his frigid Majesty, Galadas, king of the Colti Corps, long rows
4:15:41
of retainers, all in snow white fir lying the wide hallway. As the
4:15:46
guards conducted Bulgar and me into the palace and bowed in silence as we passed,
4:15:52
to my more than wonder, I saw that the inner rooms were most
4:15:54
sumptuously furnished, chairs and divans being scattered here and there, all covered with
4:16:00
superb skins of white fur, while the floor, too was carpeted with them.
4:16:03
And as the soft radiance of the alabaster lamps fell upon these magnificent pelts
4:16:10
and set ten thousand jewels in the walls and ceilings of ice, I was
4:16:14
ready to admit that I had never seen anything half so beautiful, And yet
4:16:18
I was still outside the throne room of his frigid majesty. At length we
4:16:22
came to one end of a broad hallway which seemed shut off from the rest
4:16:26
of the palace by a wall thickly encrusted with strings of great diamonds, each
4:16:30
as big as a goose egg, extending from the ceiling to the floor,
4:16:36
and turning back the shimmer of the lamps with such a flood of crystalline radiance
4:16:40
that my eyes involuntarily closed before it. Think of my amazement when the two
4:16:45
guards, laying hold of this wall of jewels as I deemed it, drew
4:16:49
it to the right and left till there was room for me to pass.
4:16:52
What I had taken for a wall of jewels was but a curtain made up
4:16:56
of round bits of ice, strung upon strings, and hanging like a shower
4:17:00
of diamonds there before me, as they glittered in the light of the lamps
4:17:04
each side of them. I now stood in the throne room of his frigid
4:17:08
majesty, the King of the Colti Corpse. Now I realized that what I
4:17:12
had seen elsewhere in his palace of ice was in reality but a sample of
4:17:17
its magnificence. For here the splendor of King Gelidas's castle burst upon me in
4:17:22
its fullest strength. Imagine a great round chamber lighted with the soft flames of
4:17:30
perfumed oil streaming from a hundred alabaster lamps, the walls lined with broad divans
4:17:37
covered with snow white pelts, the floors thickly carpeted with the same glorious rugs.
4:17:42
While on one side, glittering in the shimmer of the hundred massive lamps,
4:17:47
stands the icy throne of the King of the Colti Corps, decked with
4:17:51
snow white skins, and he upon it with schniebouleeh his fair daughter sitting at
4:17:56
his feet, and all around it about him groupoise a hundred Colti corps,
4:18:00
the King, the princess, and the courtiers, all clad in skins whiter
4:18:04
than the driven snow. And you, dear friends, will have some faint
4:18:08
idea of the splendor of the scene which burst upon me. As the two
4:18:12
guards drew aside the strands of ice jewels at the end of the hallway in
4:18:18
the Palace of Ice. Like all his subjects, King Gelidus looked out through
4:18:22
the round window of his fur hood, just as a big, good natured
4:18:26
boy does through his skating cap. The Colti Corps were not much taller than
4:18:32
I, but were very stocky built, so that when broadened out by their
4:18:37
thick fur suits, they really took on at times the appearance of animated snowballs.
4:18:42
It would be hard for the fingers of the deftest hand to draw faces
4:18:47
fuller of kindliness and good nature than those of the Colti corpse. Their small,
4:18:52
honest, gray eyes sparkled with a boniform glint, and so broad were
4:18:56
their smiles that they were only about half visible through the round holes of their
4:19:02
fur hoods. I was delighted with them from the very start, and the
4:19:06
more so when I heard King Gelidas cry out in a cheery voice, a
4:19:10
right crisp and cold welcome to our icy court, little barren But from what
4:19:14
our people tell us, thou earnest a pair of hands so hot that we
4:19:18
beg THEE to take a few days to cool off before thou touchest palms with
4:19:22
any of the Colti corps. And we also beg THEE to be careful and
4:19:26
not to lean against any of our richly carved panels, or to slide down
4:19:30
any of our highly polished railings, or to handle the strands of our jewels,
4:19:34
or sit down for any length of time on the front steps of our
4:19:37
palace. And we make the same request of thy four footed companion, who
4:19:41
is said to be of even warmer disposition than thou. I bowed and kissed
4:19:47
my hand to his frigid Majesty, and assured him that I should make every
4:19:49
effort to lower my temperature as speedily as possible, and in the meantime,
4:19:55
that I should be extremely careful not to come into contact with any of the
4:19:57
artistic carving of his palace of ice. As I pronounced these words, the
4:20:03
whole company began to clap their hands, and as they did so, a
4:20:06
cold shiver ran down my back, for there was a sound, methought,
4:20:11
very much like the rattling of dry bones to that applause. But I took
4:20:15
good care not to let King Gelidas notice my fright. His frigid Majesty now
4:20:21
presented me to his daughter, Schnieboule, a pretty little maid of about sixteen
4:20:25
crystal winters, with cheeks round as apples and as deeply dimpled as the furrows
4:20:30
of a cross bun. Her eyes twinkled as she looked upon Vulgar and me,
4:20:34
and turning to her frigid Papa, she asked for leave to touch the
4:20:37
tip end of my thumb, which being done, she gave a squeaky little
4:20:41
scream and began to blow on her tiny finger, as if I had blistered
4:20:45
it. King Galidas also presented me to several of his court favorites, all
4:20:49
men of the coldest blood in the nation. Their names were Jellikin, prostifies,
4:20:56
Icic Coal, and Glacier Boy. They were all dreadfully slow fingers when
4:21:02
you questioned them very closely on any subject. It didn't take me very long
4:21:06
to discover this. In fact, they requested me to be less warm in
4:21:08
my manner and not to ask them any posers, as they invariably found that
4:21:15
deep thought caused a rise in their temperature. This was, to be honest
4:21:19
about it, very annoying to me, for you know, dear friends,
4:21:22
what a load stone My mind is, never asleep, always in a quiver
4:21:27
like a mariner's compass, pointing this way and that, in search of the
4:21:30
polar star of wisdom. Upon making all my trouble to his frigid majesty King
4:21:37
Galidas, he most gracefully ordered one of his trusty attendants to conduct me to
4:21:41
the triple walled ice cell of a certain CULTI corp by the name of Bulabrain,
4:21:45
that is literally boiling brain, a man who had been born with a
4:21:49
hot head and consequently with a very active brain. For fifty years, King
4:21:55
Gelidus had been doing his very best to refrigerate this subject of his but without
4:22:00
excess. And as I was just bursting with impatience to ask a whole stirring
4:22:03
of questions concerning the Colti corpse, you may imagine how delighted I was to
4:22:08
make the acquaintance of Bulibrain, or Lord hot Head, as he was called
4:22:12
among the Colti Corps. But dear friends, you must excuse me if I
4:22:17
make this the end of the chapter and stop here for a brief rest.
4:22:22
End of chapter twenty two. Chapter twenty three Lord Hothead again, and this
4:22:29
time a follow account of him, his wondrous tales concerning the Colti Corps,
4:22:33
where they came from, who they were, and how they managed to live
4:22:37
in this world of eternal frost, the many questions I put to him,
4:22:41
and his answers in full. Lord Bulibrain was never allowed to set foot inside
4:22:45
the Palace of Ice. King Gelidas, backed by the opinion of his favorites,
4:22:49
still indulge the belief that he would be able in the end to refrigerate
4:22:53
him. True, he had been many years at the task, so that
4:22:56
it had now become a sort of hobby of his. And almost daily did
4:23:00
his Frigid Majesty pay a visit to his hot headed subject and test his temperature
4:23:06
by pressing his small boule of ice against his temples. To King Galidess's mind,
4:23:11
a man of so high a temperature was a continual menace to the peace
4:23:15
and quiet of his kingdom. What if Lord Hothead, in a dream should
4:23:18
wander forth some night and fall asleep with his back against one of the walls
4:23:22
of the ice palace, might he not melt away enough of it to throw
4:23:26
the whole glorious fabric into a slump and slush of debris. It was terrible
4:23:32
to think of when he did think of it, and he thought of it
4:23:34
quite often. But Bolibrain held no terrors for me, nor for Bulgar either.
4:23:41
In fact, Bulgar was delighted to be stroked by a warm hand,
4:23:44
and he and Bulabrain and I soon became the very best of friends. But
4:23:48
his frigid Majesty was so alarmed when he heard of this friendship that he was
4:23:52
seized with quite a spasm of warmth. For thought he the united heat of
4:23:57
three hot heads might work some terrible harm to the welfare of his people.
4:24:03
So he issued the coldest kind of decree, carved on a tablet of ice,
4:24:07
that Bulbrain and I should, on no one day pass more than a
4:24:11
half hour together. That we should never touch palm to palm, sleep in
4:24:15
the same room, eat from the same dish, or sit on the same
4:24:18
divan. These regulations were annoying, but I followed them to the letter.
4:24:23
And when King Gelidus saw how careful I was to yield the strictest obedience to
4:24:29
his decree, he conceived a genuine affection for me and sent several magnificent pelts
4:24:33
to the ice house, which had been assigned to Bulgar and me, For
4:24:37
of course, it would not have been safe for us to lodge in the
4:24:40
palace itself. But his frigid majesty held out the flattering prospect that the very
4:24:45
moment Bulgar and I should become properly refrigerated, apartments in the palace would be
4:24:49
assigned to us, and in fact, that I should be permitted to eat
4:24:52
at the royal table. Who are the Colti corps? Where did these strange
4:24:57
folk come from? Ha? Oh? Did they ever find their way down
4:25:00
into this world of eternal frost? And above all, where did they get
4:25:04
their food and clothing from? These were a few of the questions which I
4:25:08
was so impatient to have answered. That my temperature was raised a whole degree,
4:25:12
and I was obliged to sleep with only one single pelt between me and
4:25:17
my divan of crystal ice. For a man bred and borne in so cold
4:25:22
a country as the land of the Culti corpse, but the brain had an
4:25:25
extremely quick and active mind. On account of his rapid heartbeat and the consequent
4:25:30
high temperature of his body, he was not able to do his writing on
4:25:33
slabs of ice, as other learned Coulti corpse had done, for it would
4:25:37
not have been a pleasant thing for him to see a poem which he had
4:25:41
just finished literally melt away in his hands without so much as leaving an ink
4:25:45
stain behind. So he had been obliged, with King Galadas's permission, to
4:25:51
do his writing on thin tablets of alabaster. Before he began to talk to
4:25:56
me about the progenitors of the Colti corpse, he showed me a map of
4:25:59
the country in the Upper World once inhabited by them, and traced for me
4:26:03
the course they had sailed upon abandoning that country, and described the beautiful shores
4:26:07
they had landed upon in their search for a new home. I saw at
4:26:12
a glance that it was Greenland which Bulibraine was thus unconsciously describing, and knowing
4:26:18
as I did, that in past ages Greenland had been a land of blue
4:26:22
skies, warm winds, green meadows, and fertile valleys, before moving mountains
4:26:27
of ice came down from the north and crushed all life out of it.
4:26:30
I listened with breathless interest to his wonderful tales of its beautiful lakes nestled at
4:26:37
the foot of vine clad mountains, all of which Bullibraine now looked upon in
4:26:41
fair visions inherited from his ancestors. And I also knew that it must have
4:26:45
been the Arctic Ocean, which had been traversed by the ships of the Cultiworps,
4:26:49
who had then landed upon thee in those days sunny shores of northern Russia.
4:26:55
But the mountains of ice could sail too, and they followed the fleeing
4:26:59
Colti corp like mighty monsters, dashing themselves with terrible roar and crash upon the
4:27:03
peaceful shores, which they soon transformed into a wilderness of burg of glacier and
4:27:10
of floe. Only a handful of the Goldi corpse survived, and these,
4:27:15
in their dumb despair, taking refuge in the clefts and caverns of the north
4:27:19
urals, could, from their hiding places look upon one of the strangest sights
4:27:23
that had ever greeted human eyes. So rapid had been the advance of these
4:27:27
mighty masses of ice, crashing against the mountain sides and rending the very rocks
4:27:33
in their fury, that the air gave up its warmth and the sun was
4:27:37
powerless to give it back again. The animals of the wild wood and the
4:27:41
beasts of the field, overtaken in their flight, perished as they ran,
4:27:45
and stood there, stark and stiff, with heads up, tossed and mussels
4:27:48
knotted. Then, by the thousands and ten times thousands, the crushed crystals
4:27:55
of the pursuing floods caught up like moss and leaves in a mountain torrent,
4:27:59
and packed in every cave and cavern on the way, tearing broader and loftier
4:28:03
portals into these subterranean chambers, so that they might do their work the better.
4:28:07
And these, then, o Bulibrain, are your meat quarries, I
4:28:11
exclaimed, whence ye dry your daily food? Even so, little Barren,
4:28:17
replied the hot headed Coltiquorp. And not only our food, but the skins
4:28:22
which serve us so admirably for clothing in this cold underground world, and the
4:28:26
oil too, which burns in our beautiful alabaster lamps, besides a hundred other
4:28:33
things, such as bone for hues and handles, horn for needles and buttons,
4:28:37
and eating utensils, wool for the weaving of our undergarments, and magnificent
4:28:44
pelts of bear and seal, and walrus, which laid upon our benches,
4:28:48
and divans of crystal ice transform them into beds and couches, which even an
4:28:53
inhabitant of thy world might envy. But o Bulibrain, I cried out,
4:28:59
have ye not almost exhausted? These supplies will not death from starvation soon.
4:29:03
Stare ye all in the face in these deep and icy caverns of the underworld,
4:29:07
visited by the sun's light, yet unwarmed by it. Nay, little
4:29:11
Baron answered, Boulebraine, with a smile almost as warm as one of my
4:29:15
own. Let not that thought give thee a moment's alarm, for we have
4:29:21
as yet barely raised the lid of this ice box of nature's packing. We
4:29:26
are not large eaters. Anyway, continued Lord hotthead For while it is true
4:29:30
that we are not indolent people, for His Frigid Majesty's palace and our dwellings
4:29:34
need constant repair, and new hatchets and axes must be chipped out in the
4:29:40
flint quarries, and new lamps carved, and new garments woven, Yet is
4:29:45
also true that we take life rather easy. We have no enemies to slay,
4:29:49
no quarrels to settle, no gold to fight over, no land to
4:29:53
drive our fellow creatures from, and fence in. Nor can we be ill
4:29:59
if we were willing to be, for in this pure, cold, crisp
4:30:03
air, disease would try in vain to sow her poisoned germs. Hence needing
4:30:07
no doctors, we have none, as we have no lawyers either, or
4:30:11
merchants to sell us what belongs to us. Already, His Frigid Majesty is
4:30:17
an excellent king. I never read of a better one. I doubt that
4:30:21
his like exists in the upper world. Always cool headed, no thought of
4:30:26
conquest, no dreams of power, no long means for empty pomp and show
4:30:30
ever enter his mind. Since the day his father died and we set the
4:30:36
great Colticorp crown of crystal ice upon his cool brow, his temperature has never
4:30:41
risen but half a degree, and that was only for a brief hour or
4:30:45
so, and was occasioned by a mad proposal of one of his counselors,
4:30:48
who claimed that he had discovered an explosive compound, something like the gunpowder of
4:30:53
thy world. I fancy by which he could shatter the glorious window of rock
4:30:57
crystal set in the mountain dome of our underworld, and let in the warm
4:31:02
sunshine tid his frigid majesty Galantus put this daring colty Corp to death, I
4:31:08
asked, Oh dear, No, replied Bulibrain. He merely ordered him to
4:31:14
be refrigerated for so many hours a day, until all his feverish projects had
4:31:18
been chilled to death. For no doubt, little Baron, a man of
4:31:22
thy deep learning, knows full well that all the ills which thy world suffers
4:31:27
from are the children of fevered brains, of mines made restless and visionary by
4:31:33
the high temperature of the blood which gallops through the approaches to the dome of
4:31:38
thought, stirring up wild dreams and visions as thy son lifts the poisonous vapor
4:31:45
from the stagnant pool. The more I listened to Bulibrain, the more I
4:31:49
liked him. The fact of the matter is, I preferred to sit in
4:31:52
his narrow cell, with its plain walls of ice, lighted up by a
4:31:56
single alabaster lamp, and converse with him to loitering in the splendid throne room
4:32:02
of his frigid majesty, King Gelidus. But Bulger had discovered that the pelts
4:32:06
of Princess Schnebulet's divan were much thicker, softer, and warmer than the single
4:32:11
one allowed Lord Hothead, and therefore he preferred spending his time with her.
4:32:15
But fearing lest he might get into mischief, I didn't dare to leave him
4:32:19
alone with the princess for too long at a time. End of Chapter twenty
4:32:26
three, Chapter twenty four, Some few things concerning the dear little Princess Schnebulet,
4:32:33
how she and I became fast friends, and how one day she conducted
4:32:37
Bulgar and me into her favorite grotto to see the little man with a frozen
4:32:41
smile something about him. What came of my having looked upon him quite fully
4:32:47
described. At the time of Bulger's and my arrival in the land of the
4:32:51
Colti Corps, the Princess Schnebulet was about fifteen years of age, and I
4:32:55
must say that rarely had it been my good fortune to make the acquaintance of
4:32:59
such a sweet, tempered, lovable little creature. She flitted about the ice
4:33:03
palace like a beam of sunlight, and there was nothing of the spoiled child
4:33:07
about her. Although a bit mischievous at times, your voice was as full
4:33:12
of music as a skylark's. And it was not many days before she and
4:33:17
I had become the best of friends in the world. Now you must know,
4:33:21
dear friends, that according to the law of the Coulti Corps, a
4:33:23
princess is left absolutely free to choose her own husband, and his frigid majesty
4:33:30
was very anxious that Schniboulet should pick hers out as soon as possible. Moreover,
4:33:34
the law of the land gave her perfect freedom to choose a husband of
4:33:37
high or low degree, provided he was young enough. The way in which
4:33:41
a culti corp princess was required to make known her preference was to press a
4:33:45
kiss upon the cheek of the young man whom she might settle. Upon this
4:33:49
ennobled him at once, and he became the heir apparent to the throne of
4:33:53
Ice, and entitled to sit on its steps until he should be crowned king.
4:33:59
Now, his frigid majesty was delighted to see this friendship spring up between
4:34:03
Schneeboulay and me, for he had hoped to make use of my influence to
4:34:07
bring her to set the necessary kiss on some youth's cheek. Before I took
4:34:11
my departure from the cold kingdom of the Coulti Corps, I gave him the
4:34:15
word of a nobleman that I would do my best to carry out his wishes.
4:34:19
With Schneebuleay for a guide, Mulgar and I often went for walks through
4:34:23
the splendid ice grottos of her father's kingdom, selecting days when the sunlight of
4:34:29
the outer world poured strongest through the mighty lens set in the side of the
4:34:33
mountain. Then these grottos took on a splendor that my poor tongue is powerless
4:34:37
to describe. Their crystal mazes glittered as if their walls were set with massive
4:34:42
jewels, most wonderfully cut and polished, and as if their ceilings were fretted
4:34:48
with gems so peerless that all the gold of the upper world would fall far
4:34:52
short of pain for them. Here, there, and everywhere, the skill
4:34:56
of the Colti Corps had carved and chiseled, grew graceful flights of steps,
4:35:02
broad landings with majestic columns, and winding corridors lined with long rows of statues,
4:35:07
single and group wise, and ever and anon the visitor came upon a
4:35:11
terrace where, seated upon a fur covered divan, we might look out upon
4:35:15
the bewildering beauty of King Gelidus's icy domains, arch touching arch, and domes
4:35:22
springing from dome, while over and above all, through the gigantic lens in
4:35:26
its granite setting a mile above our heads, streamed a flood of glorious sunlight,
4:35:32
lighting up this world within a world with a radiance so grand and so
4:35:37
complete as to seem to be a sun of a far greater splendor than the
4:35:41
one that warmed the upper world and bathed it in so many gorgeous hues at
4:35:45
morn and eve. Hardly a day went by now that the Princess of the
4:35:51
Colti Corpse did not surprise either Bulgar or me with some gift or other.
4:35:55
To tell the truth, dear friends, although my Russian coat was fur trimmed,
4:36:00
yet I began to feel the need of warmer garments after a weak sojourn
4:36:03
in the icy domain of King Gelidas. And I think Snebuley must have heard
4:36:07
my teeth chattering, for one morning, upon entering the Palace of Ice,
4:36:11
I was delighted to be presented with a full suit of fur, precisely similar
4:36:17
to the one worn by King Gelidas himself. Nor was Bulgar forgotten by the
4:36:22
loving little Princess, for with her own hands she had knitted him a blanket
4:36:26
of the softest wool, which she belted so snugly around his body and tied
4:36:30
so tightly around his neck. And henceforth he felt perfectly comfortable in the chill
4:36:34
air of the home of the Colti Corpse. One day, the Princess Schnebule
4:36:38
said to me, Oh, come, little Baron, come to my favorite
4:36:41
gratto. Now that the sun's rays are bright within it, there shalt thou
4:36:45
see a wonder, a wonder, Princess Schnebuley, it's little Baron in wonder,
4:36:52
she repeated, The little man with a frozen smile, Little man with
4:36:56
the frozen smile. I echoed, Come and see, Come and see,
4:37:00
little Baron, cried steeb lay hurrying on ahead. In a few moments we
4:37:04
had reached the grotto and bounded into it, with the princess leading the way.
4:37:08
Suddenly she halted in front of a magnificent block of crystal ice, clear
4:37:14
as polished glass, and cried out, there, look, there is the
4:37:18
little man with a frozen smile. Even now, as the thought of that
4:37:22
moment comes over me, I feel something of the thrill of half fear,
4:37:26
half joy. As my eyes fell upon the little creature shut in that superb
4:37:30
block of ice himself, a part of it himself, its heart, its
4:37:34
contents, its mystery, there in its center, in easy posture, with
4:37:38
wide open eyes, and with what might be called a smile upon his face,
4:37:42
that is a glint of kindliness and affection in its strange eyes with their
4:37:48
overhanging brows, sat a small animal of the chimpanzee race. He had possibly
4:37:53
been asleep when the icy flood struck him, dreaming of beautiful trees bending beneath,
4:37:59
purple fruit, of cloudless skies above, and a coral beach below.
4:38:03
And death had come to him so quickly that he had become a brother to
4:38:07
this block of ice while the happy dream was still in his thoughts. It
4:38:12
was wonderful, It was more than wonderful. Spell Bound by the strange spectacle,
4:38:17
I stood there, I know not how long, with my eyes looking
4:38:19
into his. At last, Sneeboley's voice aroused me. Ha ha, she
4:38:25
laughed, Look, little Baron Bulgar's trying to kiss his poor dead brother.
4:38:29
In truth, Vulgar did have his nose pressed firmly against the block of ice
4:38:33
in his effort to scent the strange animal imprisoned in that crystal cell, so
4:38:37
near and yet so far beyond the reach of his kenscent. Well, little
4:38:41
Baron, cried Sneeberley. Did I not speak truly? Have I not shown
4:38:45
THEE the little man with the frozen smile? Indeed, thou hast fair princess,
4:38:51
was my reply. And I cannot tell THEE how grateful I am to
4:38:53
thee for having done so. Then, as she plucked me by the sleeve,
4:38:59
I pleaded, nay, gentle Schneebuley, not yet, not yet,
4:39:03
Let me bide a little longer. The little man, with a frozen smile,
4:39:07
seems to beg me not to go. I can almost imagine that I
4:39:11
hear him whisper, Oh, little baron, break open the crystal cell of
4:39:14
my prison, and take me with thee back to the world of sunshine,
4:39:18
back to the land of the orange tree, where the soft, warm winds
4:39:21
used to rock me to sleep in the cradle of the swaying boughs, while
4:39:26
the wise and watchful patriarch of our flock stood guard over us all. Schnebuley's
4:39:32
big, round gray eyes filled with tears at these words. Word that he
4:39:36
were alive, little baron, she murmured, and that I could give him
4:39:40
some of my happiness to pay him back for all the long years he has
4:39:42
been spending in his icy prison. In a few moments, Schnebuley took me
4:39:48
by the hand and led me away from the great bock of ice with its
4:39:52
silent prisoner. My heart was very heavy, and both Schnebuley and Bulgar did
4:39:56
their utmost to divert me, but all to no purpose. Leaving the princess
4:40:00
at the portal of the palace, I went to my dwelling, which was
4:40:03
ablaze with the soft glow of its alabaster lamps, And there I found a
4:40:08
beautiful new pelt spread over my divan, a new gift from King Gelidas.
4:40:14
But I could take no pleasure in it. My thoughts were all with a
4:40:17
little man with a frozen smile, locked in the icy embrace of that crystal
4:40:22
mold, which, in its cold irony, let him seem to be so
4:40:26
free and unfettered, and yet held him in such vice like grip. After
4:40:30
a while I dismissed my serving people and laid me down for the night with
4:40:34
my dear bulgar nestled against my breast. But I could not sleep. All
4:40:38
night long. Those strange eyes, with their uncanny glint followed me about,
4:40:44
pleading strong but silent, for me to come again, for me to soften
4:40:48
my heart like a child of the sunshine, that I was, to shatter
4:40:51
his crystal dungeon and set him loose, to bear him away from the icy
4:40:56
domain of the Colti corpse, out into the warm air of the upper world.
4:41:00
What was I dreaming about? Was he not dead? Had not his
4:41:03
spirit left his body thousands and thousands of years ago? Why should I let
4:41:08
such wild thoughts vex my mind? What good would come of it? None?
4:41:14
None, whatsoever? I was a reasonable creature. I must not give
4:41:18
lodgment within my brain to such silly ideas. The little man with a frozen
4:41:23
smile had been through all most playful fate, laid away in a beautiful tomb.
4:41:29
I must not disturb it. No doubt in his lifetime he had been
4:41:33
the pet of a noble manner. But to the Northland from some sunny clime
4:41:37
by master of powerful argacy. Let him rest in peace. I must not
4:41:41
dare to mar the beauty of his crystal tomb, so gloriously transparent. I
4:41:47
was even sorry that Schneebily had led me into her beautiful grotto, and resolved
4:41:52
to go thither no more. What poor weak creatures? We are, so
4:41:56
fertile in good resolutions, and yet so one fruitful of results, planting whole
4:42:03
acres with fair promises, But when the tender shoots pierced the ground, turning
4:42:07
our back upon the crop as if it didn't belong to us. End of
4:42:14
Chapter twenty four. Chapter twenty five, A sleepless night for Bulgar and Me
4:42:19
and what followed it interview with King Gilidas, my request and his reply.
4:42:25
What all took place when I learned that the King and his counselors had decided
4:42:29
not to grant my request, strange tumult among the coltiqerps, and how his
4:42:33
frigid majesty stilled it, and some other things. Not only had I been
4:42:38
unable to sleep, but by my tossing about I had kept poor dear Bulgar
4:42:42
awake, so that when morning came, we both looked haggard enough. I
4:42:48
felt as if I had been through a fit of sickness, and no doubt
4:42:51
he did too. At any rate, I had no appetite for the heavy
4:42:55
meat diet of the Colti corps. In seeing me refuse my breakfast, Bulgar
4:42:59
did Likewise. I had promised Sneebolet to come early to the palace, for
4:43:03
she had a number of questions which she wished to ask me concerning the upper
4:43:07
world. Good morning, little Baron, she cried in her sweetest tones,
4:43:11
as I entered the throne room. Didst sleep well last night? On the
4:43:15
new pelt which Papa sent thee. I was about to make a reply when
4:43:18
Schneberley's hand coming in contact with mine, for we had both removed our gloves
4:43:23
in order to shake hands. She uttered a piercing scream, and, drying
4:43:27
back, stood there, blowing her breath on her right palm, as she
4:43:30
exclaimed again and again, firebrand, firebrand. In an instant, King Gelidus
4:43:37
and a group of his counselors drew near, and, pulling over their gloves,
4:43:41
one after the other, laid his hand in mine, Blowing coals,
4:43:45
cried his frigid majesty. Tongue of flame roared frosty fez. Boiling water groaned
4:43:52
glacier boy, red hot hissed icicle. Thou must leave the palace at once,
4:43:59
half pleaded King yell at us. It would simply be madness for me
4:44:02
to permit such a firebrand to remain within the walls of the royal residence.
4:44:07
The intense heat of thy body would be sure to melt a hole in its
4:44:10
wall. Ere the sun goes down, the royal councilors again drew off their
4:44:14
gloves and laid hands upon poor Bulgar. When a second alarm, even wilder
4:44:18
than the first, was sent up, and we were hastily escorted back to
4:44:22
our lodging house. No doubt, dear friends, you will be somewhat mystified
4:44:26
upon reading these words, but the explanation is easy. Owing to worriment and
4:44:32
lack of sleep, Bulgar and I had awakened in a highly feverish condition,
4:44:36
and to the Colti Corps we had really seemed to be almost on fire.
4:44:40
But our fever left us toward night, during which King Gilidas sent for us
4:44:44
and did all in his power to entertain us with song and dance, in
4:44:48
both of which Sneeboulet was very skilled. Finding that his frigid majesty was in
4:44:52
such a rosy humor, if I may be allowed to speak that way of
4:44:56
a person whose face was almost as white as the alabaster lamps over his head,
4:45:00
I determined to ask him for permission to cleave asunder the icy cell of
4:45:06
the little man with the frozen smile, and ascertain, if possible, from
4:45:08
the collar, which made up apparently of gold and silver coin was clasped around
4:45:14
his neck, to whom he had belonged and where his home had been.
4:45:18
No sooner had I preferred my request than I noticed that the white face of
4:45:22
the Royal Galadus parted with its smile and took on a terribly icy look.
4:45:27
Methought I could look through the tip of his nose as though an icicle,
4:45:32
And methought too that his ears shone in the light of the alabaster lamps like
4:45:36
sheets of crystal ice, and that his voice, as he spoke, puffed
4:45:40
into my face like the first flakes of a coming snow storm. I quickly
4:45:44
repented me of my rash action, but it was too late, and I
4:45:48
determined to stand by it. Little Barren spoke Royal Gladus, in icy tones,
4:45:55
never a heart beat in a kingly breast that was purer and colder than
4:45:59
mine, or from the warmth of selfishness, with not a single hot corner
4:46:03
for its ire or anger to nestle in, or for weakness or folly to
4:46:07
make their hiding places. For thousands of years, my people have inhabited this
4:46:11
icy domain and breathe this pure cold air, And never yet hath one desired
4:46:18
to strike an ax of flint into the walls of that crystal prison. However,
4:46:22
little Barren, there may be some warm corner in my heart, wherein
4:46:26
cold and limpid wisdom may not be at home. Therefore, come to me
4:46:30
tomorrow for my answer. Meanwhile, I'll take counsel with the coolest brains and
4:46:34
coldest hearts about me. If they see no harm in thy request, Thou
4:46:40
mayst crack open the crystal gates that have for so many centuries shut the manlike
4:46:44
creature in his silent cell, and take him forth in order to study the
4:46:48
mystic words graven on his collar. But upon the strict condition that, in
4:46:52
cleaving open his house of crystal, my quarrymen so apply their wedges of flint
4:46:57
as to break the block into two equal pieces, that when thou hast read
4:47:03
what may be there, the two parts be closed upon the little man again,
4:47:07
edge fitting edge, like a perfect mold, so exactly that to the
4:47:11
eye no sign of line or joint be visible. Dost promise little Baron that
4:47:15
this shell be as to our royal will it seems meet that it should be.
4:47:22
I promised most solemnly that the crystal cell of the little man with a
4:47:25
frozen smile should be opened and closed exactly as his frigid majesty had directed.
4:47:30
It would be hard for me to tell you, dear friends, how happy
4:47:34
I went to rest that night upon my icy divan, and how as the
4:47:38
tiny flame of my alabaster lamp shed its soft glow upon the walls of ice.
4:47:44
I lay there, turning over in my mind the strange and mysterious pleasure
4:47:47
which was soon to fall to my lot, when the quarrymen of King Gelidus
4:47:52
should send their wedges of flint in this glorious block of ice and cleave it
4:47:56
asunder. Even Don Fum, master of Masters, had never ever dreamed of
4:48:00
receiving a message from the people who lived in the very childhood of the world.
4:48:03
And in anticipation already I enjoyed the splendid triumph which would be mine when
4:48:08
I came to lecture before learned societies upon the mysterious lettering on the curious collar
4:48:15
clasping the neck of the little man with the frozen smile. Imagine my anguish,
4:48:18
then, dear friends, upon receiving a message from King Gelidas the next
4:48:22
day, that his counselors had with one voice decreed against the opening of the
4:48:26
crystal prison which stood in Schneebouley's grotto, I was, as if smitten with
4:48:32
some sudden and awful ailment I had never felt until that moment how keen the
4:48:37
tooth of disappointment could be. I shivered first with a chill that made me
4:48:41
brother to the coldly corpse, and then I burned with a fever so raging
4:48:45
that a wild rumor spread through Galadus's icy domain that I was setting fire to
4:48:49
the very walls and ruth. With wild outcries and faces drawn with nameless dread,
4:48:55
the subjects of his frigid majesty rushed pell mell up the wide flights of
4:48:59
stairs leading to the Palace of Ice, and pleaded for the king to show
4:49:03
himself. In cold and frigid majesty, Geladus walked out upon the platform and
4:49:07
listened to the prayers of his people. We shall burn, they cried.
4:49:11
Our beautiful homes will fall about our egars. These crystal steps will melt away,
4:49:15
and all these fair columns and arches, and statues and pedestals will turn
4:49:19
to water and empty themselves into the lower caverns of the earth. The great
4:49:25
window of our sky will fall with awful crash upon our heads, putting an
4:49:30
end forever to this fair domain of crystal splendor. Oh Geladus, haste thee
4:49:34
haste thee ere it be too late. Let the little baron have his way
4:49:38
before bitter disappointment transforms his body and limbs into tongues of flame to lick up
4:49:44
this magnificent palace in a single night and dash its thousand alabaster lamps to the
4:49:49
ground a heap of shards, no fragment matching its breather fragment, but all
4:49:56
a wretched mass of worthless matter. King Gallidus and his frosty counselors saw that
4:50:03
it would be useless to attempt to reason with the people, and therefore,
4:50:07
turning towards them, he coldly waved his chilly right hand, and with an
4:50:10
icy smile, spoke frostily as follows, Go colti corps, to your homes
4:50:17
and be happy. What think you have? I a heated brain, doth
4:50:21
my heart steam with foolishness that you should think me capable of wishing harm to
4:50:26
the tiniest colti corp that spins his top of ice in my fair kingdom.
4:50:30
Go to your homes, I say. The little baron is already cooling off,
4:50:33
for he hath my full consent to cleave asunder the crystal prison of the
4:50:37
little man with a frozen smile. There is nothing to be frightened about,
4:50:41
my children, So eat hearty suppers and sleep soundly to night. For my
4:50:45
royal word for it. By to morrow morning, the little baron will seize
4:50:51
to be the least bit dangerous to the peace and welfare of our icy kingdom.
4:50:56
A good cold night to you all. In a short half hour,
4:51:00
the panic stricken COLDI corps were all back in their homes again, And when
4:51:03
a messenger came from Kingdlidus to measure my temperature, he found such a great
4:51:07
improvement that he opened his chilly heart and sent me a beautiful present from his
4:51:11
treasure house to wit, a small block of ice clearer than any gem I
4:51:15
had ever seen, in the heart of which lay a glorious red rose in
4:51:19
fullest bloom. Each velvet paddle opened out eagerly. Upon consulting my diary,
4:51:26
I found that it was just six months to a day since I had left
4:51:30
Castle Trump and the loved ones sheltered by its time worn tiles and cold as
4:51:34
was the covering of this thrish beautiful child of the upper world. I clasped
4:51:40
it to my breast and shed tears. And this was the way it came
4:51:45
about, dear friends, that King Delidus and his frosty counselors were brought to
4:51:48
give their consent to my cleaving asunder the icy prison wherein lay the little man
4:51:52
with the frozen smile, end of Chapter twenty five, Chapter twenty How the
4:52:00
quarrymen of King Gelidas cleft asunder the crystal prison of the little man with the
4:52:07
frozen smile, my bitter disappointment, and how I bore it wonderful happenings of
4:52:12
the night that followed, Bulgar again proves himself to be an animal of extraordinary
4:52:18
sagacity. Bulgar and I had little appetite for the dainty breakfast of stewed sweetbreads
4:52:25
which the coldly corpse set before us next morning, for I knew, and
4:52:29
he half suspected that something important was going to happen, being nothing less than
4:52:33
the cleavness under of the crystal cell which had held the little Chimpanzee a prisoner
4:52:37
for so many centuries. Walking beside the merry Princess Schnibulet, who was delighted
4:52:44
to know that his frigid majesty her father had at last yielded to my wishes,
4:52:48
Bulgar and I set out for the beautiful ice grotto. Behind us walked
4:52:53
Frosty Fizz and Glacier Boy with instructions from the King to supervise the cleaving asunder
4:52:59
of the block of ice. And after them came four of King Yellowdess's quarrymen,
4:53:03
two bearing flint axes with helves of polished bone, and two carrying the
4:53:07
flint wedges to be used in the work. We soon entered Schnibula's grotto and
4:53:12
the task was at once entered upon. It seemed to me I could almost
4:53:17
see the little man with the frozen smile wink as eyelids as the quarrymen set
4:53:21
their wedges in place and began to mark the line of fracture. But of
4:53:25
course, dear friends, you know what imagination I have, especially when I
4:53:30
get worked up over anything, so you must take what I say sometimes with
4:53:33
a grain of salt, although as a rule you may accept my statements with
4:53:37
childlike confidence. With such wonderful skill did the Cultiquorpian quarrymen use their axes and
4:53:42
wedges that in a few moments, to my great delight, the huge block
4:53:47
of ice fell asunder in perfect calves, in one of which the little manlike
4:53:51
creature lay on his side, like a casting in a mold. I made
4:53:56
haste to lift him out and wrap him in a soft pelt, which I
4:53:59
had brought long for that purpose. And then I turned to retrace my steps
4:54:03
to my chamber, where I intended to begin at once my study of whatever
4:54:07
inscription should be found upon his curious caller. Remember, little Baron, said
4:54:11
Glacier boy, by express command of his frigid majesty, the little man with
4:54:15
a frozen smile must be returned to his crystal cell tomorrow morning. At this
4:54:18
very hour I bowed assent, and then, having accompanied Princess Schneboulet as far
4:54:23
as the bottom of the grand staircase leading to the ice Palace, I turned
4:54:27
away and was soon in the privacy of my own apartment. Now came for
4:54:32
me one of the bitterest disappointments of my life, but I submitted with a
4:54:36
good grace, for it was fit punishment visit upon me for my foolish vanity
4:54:41
in striving to unearth some older record of the human race than had yet been
4:54:45
done by any of the great searchers and philosophers, not even excepting that master
4:54:49
of masters Don Strefalo Fidquinarius foon No, then, dear friends, that the
4:54:56
quaint collar, made up of gold and silver coins or disks cunningly linked together,
4:55:00
which encircled the animal's neck, contained not a single word or letter of
4:55:06
any language, the undersides being quite blank, and the upper merely having rough
4:55:11
carved outlines of an object which might possibly have been intended for the sun.
4:55:15
Wrapping the animal up in the soft pelt, I laid him away in the
4:55:19
corner of my divan and betook myself to the palace of his frigid Majesty,
4:55:25
where I frankly informed King Gelidus of my great disappointment in not finding some few
4:55:30
words, or even a single word of a language unknown to the wisest heads
4:55:33
of the upper world. Schnebolet was so touched by my sadness that had I
4:55:38
not skillfully kept out of her way, I verily believed she would have thrown
4:55:42
her arms around my neck and imprinted upon my cheek the kiss which would have
4:55:47
made me the king of the Colti corpse. But I had no longing to
4:55:51
spend the rest of my life in the icy domains of his frigid Majesty,
4:55:55
even though my brow would be crowned with the cold crown of the Colti corpse.
4:56:00
If I had been an old man with slow and feeble pulse, it
4:56:03
would have been very different. But my heart was too warm and my blood
4:56:07
too hot to fill such a position with agreeableness to myself or satisfaction to the
4:56:11
people of this icy underworld. So I kept the little princess busy enough.
4:56:15
I can assure you first with songs, then with dance, and then with
4:56:19
story telling. That night, King Gilidus ordered a magnificent fete to be held
4:56:26
in my honor. Five hundred more alabaster lamps were lighted, and the royal
4:56:30
divans were laid with the richest pelts in the palace. And after the dancing
4:56:33
and singing had ended, frozen tidbits from the royal kitchen were passed around on
4:56:37
alabaster salvers and bulgar and I ate until our teeth ached. It was late
4:56:45
when we reached our own apartment, and so full were my thoughts of the
4:56:48
beautiful sights which we had gazed upon in the throne room, that I had
4:56:52
quite forgotten about the poor little man with a frozen smile, whom I had
4:56:56
covered up and tucked away on my divan. But Bulgar had not been so
4:57:00
hard hearted. Twenty times during the evening he had given me a sly tug
4:57:04
at my sleeve, as much as to say, well, little master,
4:57:07
let's hurry back. Does not remember that we left my poor little frozen brother
4:57:11
tucked away in that icy chamber, all alone by himself. I was very
4:57:15
weary, and I fell off to sleep almost immediately, And yet I had
4:57:19
an indistinct recollection that Bulgar was not in his place. Against my breast,
4:57:23
I remembered feeling for him, But that's all never flashed upon me that he
4:57:27
had gone and laying down beside the poor little stranger whom I had so unfeelingly
4:57:32
lifted from his last resting place. And yet such must have been the case.
4:57:37
For about midnight, it seemed to me I was awakened by a gentle
4:57:40
tugging at my sleeve. It was my faithful Bulgar. But half awakened,
4:57:45
half asleep as I was, I merely thought that he was only asking for
4:57:48
a caress, as was often his wont when he fell a thinking about home.
4:57:52
So I reached out and stroked his head several times, and dropped off
4:57:55
again. But the tugging began anew, and this time twas more vigorous,
4:57:59
and with the came an impatient whine, which meant come cut my little master
4:58:03
well as thee dost suppose I would break they rest unless I was good reason
4:58:07
for it. I didn't need a third reminder. But with a single bound
4:58:11
landed on my feet, and reaching out for one of the tiny tapers which
4:58:15
the coultiquips make use of as lighters, I carried the flames from the single
4:58:18
lamp burning on the wall to the three others hanging here and there. The
4:58:22
icy walls of my chamber were now ablaze with light. There sat Bulgar on
4:58:26
the fur covered divan, beside the place where the little man, with a
4:58:30
frozen smile lay hidden under the pelt. His tail was wagging nervously, and
4:58:34
his large, lustrous eyes were fixed first upon me and then upon the covering
4:58:40
of his dead brother, with an expression I never remembered having seen in them
4:58:44
before. And then with a sudden movement, he laid hold of the pelt,
4:58:48
and, drawing it aside, showed me what think you, dear friends?
4:58:52
What I ask, in a tone of half whisper, half gasp.
4:58:56
For now years after, I still can feel that wonderful thrill which I felt
4:59:00
then. Why it was alive, that ape like creature had come to life
4:59:04
after his sleep of thousands of years. In that narrow crystal cell, Bulgar
4:59:10
had lain down beside his frozen brother and warmed him back to life again.
4:59:15
Oh, it was wondrously wonderful to see that pair of little eyes, bead
4:59:19
like in brightness, look up and blink at me. And then to hear
4:59:23
that low moaning voice, so human like as if it whimpered with a shake
4:59:27
and a shiver. Oh, how cold it is, How very cold it
4:59:33
is. Where's the sun, Where's a soft warm wind? And where are
4:59:36
the cloudless skies so blue, oh, so beautifully blue that used to hang
4:59:40
over my head. Bidding Bulgar to lie down again beside him and snuggle up
4:59:44
as close as possible, I made haste to cover them both with the softest
4:59:48
skins I could find. In a few moments, there came from underneath the
4:59:52
pile a low contented cry of hooziah, hoozia, hoosia, followed by a
4:59:57
curious addition, sound like fuff fuf fuff. So I put them all together
5:00:03
and name the strange newcomer to the icy domain of King Galadas. Fuff Cuja
5:00:08
sleep any more that night, not a wink. The same joy came over
5:00:14
me that I used to feel on Christmas morning long ago, when Chris Kringle
5:00:18
brought me some wonderful bit of mechanism moved by a secret spring. For I
5:00:22
always scorned to accept ordinary toys like ordinary children. And oh how I longed
5:00:27
for the morning when it would be time for me to bundle up the little
5:00:30
man. No longer him with a frozen smile, but fuff Guja, the
5:00:36
live boy from far away, with his curious little face screwed up into such
5:00:40
a funny look, and carry him to the palace. How delighted Schneeboo I
5:00:45
will be, thought I, and King Galadas too, How he will unbend
5:00:48
from his frigid majesty as he watches the antics of fuff Guja. And how
5:00:53
pleased all the dignified cold ecorpions, including Frosty Fizz and Glacier Boy, will
5:00:59
be when I tell them that the little man with a frozen smile has come
5:01:02
to life again. What crowds of colti corps men, women and children will
5:01:07
rush up the long flights of steps leading to the Ice Palace, bending entreating
5:01:11
King Gilidas to let them have just a little look at fuff Cuja, the
5:01:15
little man set free from his icy cell by the famous traveler Baron Sebastian van
5:01:21
Trump end of chapter twenty six, Chapter twenty seven. Excitement over Fufkujaw I
5:01:30
carry him to the court of King Galidis is instant affection for the Princess Niebull.
5:01:36
I am accused of exercising the black art. My defense and my reward
5:01:41
anxiety of the coltiquerks lest Fufkuja perish of hunger. This calamity averted another stares
5:01:48
us in the face. How to keep him from freezing to death? I
5:01:52
solve the problem, but draw upon me a strange misfortune. It all turned
5:01:59
out just as as I had thought it would. The moment it became known
5:02:03
that the little man with a frozen smile had actually come to life, the
5:02:07
wildest excitement prevailed in every part of the icy domain of his frigid majesty.
5:02:11
I was astounded at the change in the actions of the cultiquerps. They moved
5:02:15
more quickly, they talked faster, They made more gestures than I had ever
5:02:19
seen them do before. In some cases you will hardly believe it, dear
5:02:23
friends, I actually noticed a faint glow in the cold cheeks of a few
5:02:27
of them. I had hoped to be able to bundle for Kuja up warmly
5:02:33
and make my escape to the ice palace before the people learned of his coming
5:02:36
to life, But in vain. When I made my appearance at the door,
5:02:40
there was a large crowd of coltiqwerps pushing and pulling in front of my
5:02:44
quarters. Most of them were good natured and cried out, show him to
5:02:48
us, little baron, show us the little man with the frozen smile,
5:02:51
whom thou hast brought to life. Let us look upon his face. Nay
5:02:56
nay, Coltiqwerps, I exclaimed, it must not be his frigid majesty.
5:03:00
Must be the first to look upon Fufkuja's face. Room room for the noble
5:03:06
guests of Royal Galitas, and the name of his frigid majesty. Give way
5:03:10
and let me pass. The colti corps showed no inclination to obey to such
5:03:15
a pitch of excitement. Had they worked themselves up that only upon seeing Bulger
5:03:18
advance upon them with flashing eye and teeth laid bare. Did they reach the
5:03:22
conclusion that my brave companion was in no mood to be trifled with, thwarted
5:03:27
in their wild desire to get a peep at Fufkuja. The Colti corps now
5:03:30
began to rail at me as I passed them by on my way to the
5:03:33
ice palace. Ho Ho, Master Magician, ha Ha, Prince of the
5:03:37
Black Art, Boo boo, little wizard, have a care wile the necromancer
5:03:44
see to it that thou dost not practice any of thy tricks of enchantment upon
5:03:48
us. I was glad when the axe bearer saw my plight and hurried forward
5:03:52
to extricate me from the crowd of angry people. King Galddas met me at
5:03:56
the portal of his ice palace, and at his heels came its a schnebul,
5:04:00
who could hardly wait for her turn to take a look at the curious
5:04:03
living creature, which I unwrapped just enough to let her see its nose.
5:04:07
The instant Foofguja set eyes upon the sweet face of the kurt Whippian princess.
5:04:11
He stretched out his little arm as a child might to its mother. This
5:04:17
sudden show of affection caused Snebel the litheless pleasure, and quickly drawing off one
5:04:21
of her gloves, she reached out and stroked the animal's head, but at
5:04:25
the touch of those to him icy little fingers, he uttered a low wail
5:04:29
and drew back underneath the warm pelt in which he was snugly wrapped. Poor
5:04:33
Schneebol. She gave a sigh she saw him do this, but it didn't
5:04:37
prevent her from coming every minute or so and lifting one end of the pelt
5:04:41
just enough to take another look at Fufguja, who, while he never failed
5:04:45
to cut her up closer to me at side of the princess, yet invariably
5:04:48
thrust out one of his black paws from under the pelt for Schnebel to shake.
5:04:52
While seated on the die of then nearest throne, I observed that Frosty
5:04:56
Fizz and Glacier Boy were holding a whispered conference with his Bridge Majesty. All
5:05:00
at once I guessed the subject of their conversation. Rising to my feet,
5:05:06
I made a sign that I wished to address the King, and when he
5:05:08
had dotted his head with stern and icy dignity, I began to speak.
5:05:12
You know, dear friends, how eloquent I can be when the mood is
5:05:17
upon me. Well standing there, almost upon the steps of King Lydies's throat
5:05:21
of ice, I proceeded to defend myself against the charge of being a master
5:05:25
with a black art. I will not tell you all I said, but
5:05:29
this was my ending. May it please your frigid majesty. Here beside me
5:05:34
stands the only magician in the case, and the only art. The only
5:05:38
trick or charm which was exercised by him was that sweet power we call love.
5:05:44
When first he set eyes upon his four footed brother locked in the crystal
5:05:48
cell of Schnebul's grotto, he pressed his nose again and again against its icy
5:05:52
wall in vain attempt to know his kinsman, and turned away with a cry
5:05:56
of sorrow, to find that his keen scent could not penetrate to him.
5:06:00
I cannot tell you how great was his joy when I laid Fuofkuja stiff and
5:06:04
stark upon my divan, For I knew not then the scheme ripening in Bulger's
5:06:10
mind. But later all was plain enough. The loving dog leaves his master's
5:06:15
breast and carries his true and tender heart over to where Fufkuja lies, raises
5:06:19
the pelt, crawls in beside him, and presses his warm breast, firm
5:06:23
and hard against his brother's ice locked heart, and warms him into life again.
5:06:29
Then wakes me and tells me what he hath done. This Worlgaldus and
5:06:33
most noble cultiquerps is the only art that hath been used to bring Foofkujab back
5:06:37
to life again. And to call it black is to slander the sunshine,
5:06:41
rail at the lily, and call the sweet breath of heaven a vile and
5:06:45
detestable thing. When I had ended my speech, I saw that Schnebel had
5:06:51
been weeping, and that several of her tears stopped in their course down her
5:06:55
cheeks, hung their sparkling like tiny diamonds in the soft light of the alabaster
5:06:59
lamps, where the chill air of Galindas's palace had turned them into ice.
5:07:03
And therefore, when his frigid Majesty said that my words had touched his heart
5:07:07
and bade me ask for a gift from his hand, I said, O,
5:07:11
cold King of this fair, icy domain, let those tears that now
5:07:15
hang like tiny jewels on Schnebul's cheeks be brushed into an alabaster box and given
5:07:21
to me. I covet no other Garridon, even if I did not love
5:07:26
thee little baron, cried King Glydis with an icy smile. I would be
5:07:30
persuaded. But loving makes easy believing. Go frosty, fizz, and bid
5:07:33
one of the princess's women brush those tiny jewels that hang on Schneebul's cheek into
5:07:37
an alabaster cup and bestow them upon the little baron. Scarcely had this been
5:07:42
done, when Fufkuja thrust his head out from under the pelt, and,
5:07:47
fixing his eyes pleadingly upon me, thrust out his tongue and opened and shut
5:07:51
his mouth with a faint smacking noise. Quick as a flash, it dawned
5:07:55
upon me that those signs meant that Foofkuja was hungry. And then, as
5:08:00
I suddenly remembered that the Coltic Corps were strictly a meat eating people, that
5:08:03
only meat was to be had in their ChIL domain, quarried almost like marble
5:08:07
itself from nature's great refrigerators. A gasp escaped my lips, and I whispered,
5:08:11
oh, he must die, he must die. My words had not
5:08:17
missed the keen ears the princess Neebel speak, little Baron, She cried,
5:08:22
why why must little foof Guja die? What dost mean by such a saying?
5:08:27
And when King Galidas and Schnebel had heard me voice my fear that he
5:08:32
would die rather than feed on meat, they both became very heavy hearted.
5:08:36
Poor little foolf Gujja, moaned the princess. Can it be possible that he
5:08:41
must be carried back so soon to his cristal CellID my grotto? Bid the
5:08:45
master of my meat quarries approach the throne, cried King Galidas. Suddenly,
5:08:49
in a voice of icy dignity, this important functionary soon made his appearance.
5:08:56
Turning to me, the King bade me explain the case to him. This
5:09:00
I did in a few words, when, to the great joy of all
5:09:03
present, the master of the meat quarry spoke, as follows, little Baron,
5:09:07
If that's the only trouble, give thyself no further uneasiness, for I
5:09:12
shall at once send one of my men to thee with a supply of most
5:09:17
delicious nuts. Delicious nuts, I repeated, in a tone of amazement.
5:09:22
Why yes, little Baron I have a goodly supply on hand, know then
5:09:26
that hardly a day goes by that by men don't come upon some fine specimen
5:09:30
of the family of naurs, most generally squirrels, in whose cheek pouches we
5:09:36
can verily be find from one to half a dozen dainty nuts stowed away.
5:09:40
It has always been my custom to lay these aside, and so I have
5:09:44
to inform thee that if Fufkujah should live to be a hundred years old,
5:09:48
I or my successor could guarantee to keep him supplied with food. These words
5:09:53
lifted a terrible load off my heart. For now, at least Fufkujab would
5:09:57
not die of starvation. For a few days everything went well. The Colti
5:10:03
corps became quite satisfied in their own minds that I had not been practicing the
5:10:07
black art in the chilly kingdom of his frigid majesty, and each and every
5:10:11
one of them became greatly attached to the curious little creature with a droll little
5:10:15
face and droller manner. But it seemed as if we were no sooner out
5:10:18
of one trouble than we were plumped into another. For now Fufkuja began to
5:10:22
object to the attendant selected to look after him by King Klydus. The man
5:10:27
was about ten degrees too cold blooded for him, and ere long it was
5:10:30
only necessary for the culti grp to approach Fuff, as we called him for
5:10:34
short, in order to throw him into convulsions of shivering and to cause him
5:10:38
to utter pitiable cries of discontent, which only ceased upon my appearing and comforting
5:10:44
him by my caresses. I now set to work to devise some way to
5:10:48
make Fuff's life more agreeable to him, for everybody seemed to hold me responsible
5:10:52
for his well being. Ten times a day came messengers from King Glyddas or
5:10:56
from Princess Nebel, to ask how he was getting on and and whether we
5:11:00
were keeping him warm enough, whether he had all he wanted to eat,
5:11:03
whether he had pelts enough on his bed. Nor was it an unusual thing
5:11:07
to have a score or more cultiqrpin Mother's call at my quarters during a single
5:11:11
day, with advice enough to last a month. And therefore was it that,
5:11:15
with a view to providing him with a warmer room to sleep in,
5:11:18
I ordered a divan fitted up for him in a smaller chamber, opening into
5:11:21
mine, upon the walls of which I directed half a dozen of the largest
5:11:25
lamps to be hung. The consequence was that the walls began to melt,
5:11:30
hearing of which consternation spread throughout the icy domain of his frigid majesty. For
5:11:34
to the mind of a Colti corpin, heat powerful enough to melt ice was
5:11:38
something terrible. It was like the dread of earthquake shocked to us, or
5:11:42
the fear of flood or flame. It was something that filled their hearts with
5:11:47
such terror that in their dreams they saw the solid walls of the Ice Palace
5:11:51
melt asunder and fall with a crash. They could not bear it, and
5:11:53
so King the Lidis put forth a decree that, if there were no other
5:11:56
way to keep Fufkuja alive, must he die. Hearing this, a novel
5:12:03
grief came upon poor Snebel's heart, for she had learned to love little fuff
5:12:07
very dearly, and had set a knife in her breast to think of losing
5:12:11
him. Never. Never, she cried, shall I be able to set
5:12:15
foot within my grotto if Fuufkuja is put back into his crystal prison again,
5:12:19
with his frozen smile on his face, as once used to be, and
5:12:23
seeking out her royal father, she threw herself at his knees and spoke as
5:12:26
follows, Oh heart of ice, Oh frigid majesty, let not thy child
5:12:33
die of grief. There is an easy way out of all our troubles with
5:12:36
dear little Fufkuja. Speak beloved, Snebel, answered King Alyddis, Let me
5:12:41
hear what it is. Why, cold heart, said the princess. The
5:12:45
little Baron hath plenty of warmth stored away in his body. He hath enough
5:12:49
for both himself and Foofkuja into the bargain. Therefore, Frigid Father, command
5:12:55
that a deep warm hood be made to the little Baron's coat, and that
5:12:57
Foofkujab be placed therein and be borne about by the little Baron wherever he goeth.
5:13:03
He will soon grow accustomed to the slender burden, and note it no
5:13:06
more. It shall be as thou wishest, replied the King of the Culti
5:13:11
corpse, and calling his trusty counsular clocure boy, he directed him to summon
5:13:15
me at once to the throne room. When I heard this terrible order issue
5:13:18
from the icy lips of King glydis My heart sank within me, And yet
5:13:22
I dared not disobey, I dared not murmur. For I it was who
5:13:26
had cleft asunder the crystal prison of the little man with a frozen smile,
5:13:30
I who had made it possible for Boulger to warm him back to life again.
5:13:34
Oh, poor, vain, weak, foolish boy that I had been.
5:13:38
What was to become of me now? End of chapter twenty seven,
5:13:45
Chapter twenty eight, How a little burden may grow to be a grievous one?
5:13:49
Story of a man with a monkey in his hood, My terrible suffering
5:13:53
concerning the awful panic that seized upon the Colti corpse, my visit to the
5:13:59
deserted ice palace, And what happened to Fuffkouja end of his brief but strange
5:14:04
career a frozen kiss on a blade of horn? Or how Shneboulay chose a
5:14:10
husband, Ah, little princess. How easy was it for THEE to say
5:14:14
that I would soon grow accustomed to the slender burden, and note it no
5:14:18
more? How prone are we to call light the burdens which we lay upon
5:14:22
the shoulders of others for our own benefit. True, Fuffkujo was not as
5:14:26
long as a horse Nora as brought as an ox, and when in accordance
5:14:30
with the King's decree, the hood had been completed, and the little animal
5:14:33
was stowed away therein close against my back, so as to get a goodly
5:14:37
share of the warmth of my body. It seemed to me that Shneboulay was
5:14:41
right, that I would soon become accustomed to the load and note it no
5:14:45
more. And so it seemed the second and third day, but not on
5:14:48
the fourth, for on that day the little load appeared to have gained somewhat
5:14:52
in wait. And although I was quick to feign that it was not so,
5:14:56
when Princess Shneboule quizzed me, saying, dear little bear, did I
5:15:00
not tell thee that thou wouldst soon forget that Fuffkujak slept on thy shoulders,
5:15:04
Yet in my heart I felt that he really had grown a mite heavier.
5:15:07
On the fifth day, Bulgar and I were bidden to a merry making at
5:15:11
the Palace of Ice, And as I rose from my divan to betake me
5:15:15
thither, methought I was strangely heavy hearted, and so did Bulgar, for
5:15:18
he made several efforts to draw a smile or a cheery tone from me,
5:15:22
but in vain. Suddenly I realized that there was a weight pressing against my
5:15:26
back. No, not a heavy weight, but a weight all the same.
5:15:30
And then I whispered to myself, why if I am going to be
5:15:34
a merry making, I'll cast it off? And then I wakened from my
5:15:38
deep abstraction and murmured, how strange that I should have forgotten the fuff kujo
5:15:42
was in my hood, And so I went to the merry making with fuffkujah
5:15:47
nestled between my shoulders, and the Colti corpse laughed at the little baron and
5:15:51
his child, as they called him, and drew near and raised the flap
5:15:53
and peeped in at the curious creature within the hood. And when fuff Kujov
5:15:59
felt their icy breath, he buried his nose in the fir and sighed and
5:16:02
whimpered. Then, for a moment, when the Princess Schnebule came and sat
5:16:06
beside me and praised me for my readiness to carry out her wishes, and
5:16:10
thanked me so sweetly for my goodness to her, I forgot all about the
5:16:14
little load laid upon me, and I ate the frozen tidbits from the royal
5:16:17
kitchen, and laughed and joked with Lord's Frosty Fizz and glacier Boy, just
5:16:22
as had been my wont before Gelidus had decreed that Fuff Guja should make his
5:16:25
bed on my shoulders. But when the fete was over, and I stepped
5:16:29
from the broad portal of the ice Palace and looked up at the mighty lens
5:16:33
set in the mountain side, through which the moonlight of the outer world was
5:16:36
streaming in subdued but glorious splendor, I suddenly felt my legs bend under me.
5:16:41
I staggered from right to left. I clutched at shadows. I was,
5:16:45
it seemed to me, about to be crushed beneath a terrible burden.
5:16:49
I quickened my pace. I broke into a run. I threw my arms
5:16:53
into the air, as if I would cast off the wake that was smothering
5:16:56
me. And so I came to my lodging, puffing, pan h gasping.
5:17:00
Why what a fool? Was my first word when I had got my
5:17:04
breath. It's only little Fuff could john my back stowed away in my fur
5:17:08
hood. I must be beside myself to a thought that a great monster was
5:17:11
seated there, and that he was gradually pressing me down, crushing the life
5:17:17
out of me by degrees, flattening me to the very ground, and I
5:17:21
not able to escape from his terrible embrace or to squirm out from under his
5:17:23
awful limbs wrapped around my neck and body. All night long, this monster
5:17:30
was clinging to me and urging me to a faster pace, up and down,
5:17:33
across and around I knew, not where, on bootless errands, ending
5:17:37
only to begin again on searches after nothing, hidden nowhere, trying a thousand
5:17:41
lids, and finding every one law, returning home, only to go forth
5:17:45
again, up and away and out on interminable highways, vanishing in a point
5:17:51
far on ahead, with that grievous burden forever on my shoulders, growing heavier
5:17:55
and heavier, till it seemed that I must go down with it into the
5:17:57
dust. But it knew full well that it must not ride me to death.
5:18:03
So when I was ready to drop, it throw off part of its
5:18:04
weight to give me courage to begin again. When the morning came, my
5:18:08
pulse was galloping, and my cheeks were on fire. I could feel the
5:18:14
blood pounding against my temples, and it was natural that my face should be
5:18:17
crimsoned over with the flush of fever. Half in the daze, I walked
5:18:22
forth toward the grand staircase leading up to the ice Palace, when suddenly I
5:18:26
was startled by a fearful scream. I halted and looked up when another and
5:18:30
another burst upond my ears. The terrified colti quarts were fleeing before me in
5:18:34
every direction, shrieking as they fled, Fly, brothers fly, The little
5:18:38
baron is burning. The little baron is burning. Fly, brothers Fly.
5:18:45
In a few moments, terror had seized upon every living creature in the icy
5:18:48
domain of King Gelidus. They fled from me in mad haste, taking refuge
5:18:52
in the distant caverns and corridors, filling the air with their wild outcries,
5:18:57
no one being brave enough to halt and take a second look. My inflamed
5:19:02
countenance filled them with such awful terror that they could only tear along and cry,
5:19:07
fly, brothers fly, the little baron is burning, the little baron
5:19:10
is burning. With bulgar at my heels, I turned and sprang up the
5:19:15
staircase with the intention of seeking out King Gelidas, and explaining the matter to
5:19:18
him, But he too had fled, and with him every sentinel and serving
5:19:22
man, every courtier and counselor. The palace was as still as death.
5:19:27
I hastened through its silent corridors, calling out, Schnebeleh, Princess Schnebeley.
5:19:33
Surely there are not afraid of me. Turn back, I will not harm
5:19:37
thee I'm not burning. Turn back, oh, turn back. With this,
5:19:41
I reached the throne room. Not a living creature was to be seen.
5:19:45
The vast chamber was still as death. I staggered to a divan,
5:19:48
and, pillowing my poor aching head on a cushion, I fell into a
5:19:52
sound and refreshing sleep. When I awoke, I rubbed my eyes and looked
5:19:56
about me, and at first I thought that I was still alone in the
5:19:59
great round chamber with its walls of ice. But no there on the divan
5:20:03
sat Schneebule, and she smiled and said, in mock displeasure, thou art
5:20:07
not a very watchful nurse, little Baron, For in thy sleep thou didst
5:20:11
squeeze fuff Guja so tightly against a cushion. And he crawled out from thy
5:20:15
hood and nestled in my arms in thy arm, Schneebuleh, I exclaimed breathlessly,
5:20:19
for I feared for the worst, and springing up, I drew aside
5:20:22
the soft belt which she had wrapped around fuff Guja, and there lay dead.
5:20:27
Poor little beast had been so happy to crawl into the arms of one
5:20:30
he loved so dearly, and had cuddled up closer and closer to her in
5:20:33
search of greater warmth, but only to come nearer and nearer to a heart
5:20:37
that could not warm him. And so the insidious chill of death, which
5:20:41
bringeth sweet and pleasant trowsiness with it, had stole over him, and he
5:20:47
had died. And Schnebule's tears, freezing as they fell, now showered like
5:20:52
the gentle hail of tiny gems upon the little lead beast. No longer fuff
5:20:56
cou Jay, but once again the little man with the frozen smile. Presently,
5:21:02
the Colti Corps were recovered from their senseless fear, and first one by
5:21:06
one, then group wise, they returned to their homes, King Gelidus and
5:21:10
his court, coming back too, to the fair palace which they had abandoned
5:21:15
in their wild fright. When the cry had gone up, the little baron
5:21:18
was burning. Everybody was sorry to hear that Fuffkujah had died the second time.
5:21:22
And many were the frozen tears that dropped from the chilly cheeks of the
5:21:26
Colti Corpse as they looked upon the little man with a frozen smile as he
5:21:30
lay on the white pelt beside the Princess Schnebelet. That day we bore him
5:21:34
back to the ice grotto, and having laid him in the hollow molded by
5:21:37
his body in the crystal block, it was closed again so skillfully by the
5:21:41
King's quarrymen that no eye was keen enough to note where the cleavage had been,
5:21:47
and the same uncanny glint was in his eyes. And when the Colti
5:21:51
Corps saw this, their icy hearts felt a cold shiver of satisfaction, for
5:21:55
not only was the little Man with a frozen smile back in his crystal cell
5:21:59
again, but all the fears and dreadful fancies which his coming to life again
5:22:03
had given rise to were past and gone forever in peace and quiet and sweet
5:22:07
contentment rain throughout the icy realm of his frigid Majesty Geladas, King of the
5:22:12
Colti Corpse, now nothing remained to make his cold heart crack with joy,
5:22:17
but to see his beloved child Sneberle make choice of a husband. And he
5:22:21
had not long to wait for one day. Upon entering the palace, she
5:22:23
saw a youth lying at the foot of the stairway, overcome with sleep.
5:22:27
In one hand he held an alabaster lamp, and in the other a new
5:22:32
wick, which he was about to fit into it. For the youth was
5:22:34
a lamp trimmer in the ice palace of King Gelidas. And when the Princess
5:22:38
Schnebile saw him lying there, overcome with sleep, she stooped and kissed him
5:22:42
on the cheek, and passed on without another thought about the matter, one
5:22:47
way or the other. And the kiss froze on the cheek of the lamp
5:22:49
trimmer, where Schnebele had pressed it. Presently, King Gelidas came tramping into
5:22:55
the hallway with his breath white upon his beard, and he saw the youth
5:22:59
fly there and the frozen kiss on his cheek, and he bade glacier boy
5:23:03
scrape the delicate frost crystals from the youth's face with a blade of polished horn.
5:23:07
What hast there, father of mine? Asked the princess when she saw
5:23:11
him bearing the blade of horn along so carefully a kiss which some one pressed
5:23:15
upon the cheek of one of my lamp tremmers, now lying on the staircase.
5:23:18
Overcome with sleep, replied King Gilidus, in ringing icy tones. Why
5:23:23
father of mine, exclaimed the princess Sneebile, Now that thou speakest of it,
5:23:29
I really believe the kiss is mine, for I recollect kissing some one.
5:23:32
As I entered the palace, I was deep in thought, But no
5:23:34
doubt the youth pleased me as he lay there asleep, with lamp in one
5:23:37
hand and wick in the other, and that lamp tremer trimmed no more lamps
5:23:42
in the ice palace of his frigid Majesty Gelidus, King of the Colti Corps.
5:23:48
No doubt he made Sneebile a very good husband, and I am quite
5:23:51
sure that she made him a good wife. I would have been glad to
5:23:53
tarry for the nuptial feast, but that was out of the question. I
5:23:56
had stayed too long already. End of Chapter twenty eight. Chapter twenty nine
5:24:06
something concerning the many portals to the icy domain of King Dalidas and the difficult
5:24:11
task of choosing the right one, how Bulgar solved it. Are farewell to
5:24:15
the cold blooded Colti corpse Schneebule's sorrow at losing us. As Boulbrain had once
5:24:22
remarked, when there are many doors, its wise man who knows which is
5:24:26
the right one to open. And this I found to be the case when
5:24:29
I attempted to take my departure from the icy domain of his frigid majesty Galadas,
5:24:34
king of the Colti Corps, For there was a baker's dozen of galleries,
5:24:38
in each of which, upon exploring it, I came, after a
5:24:41
tramp of half a mile or so, up against a lofty gate of solid
5:24:45
ice, curiously carved and fitting the end of the gallery as a cork does
5:24:51
a bottle. No doubt you are wondering why didn't make my way out of
5:24:53
the Coltiquorpian kingdom by following the river, for the very good reason that it
5:24:57
went no further then King Guilidus's domain, emptying into a vast reservoir, which
5:25:04
apparently had a subterranean outlet, for its thick covering of ice always remained at
5:25:08
the same height. The king's quarrymen were ordered to hew an opening through whichever
5:25:15
door I should point out as the one that I wished to pass through.
5:25:18
But I was informed by Frosty Fez that according to the law of the land,
5:25:22
but one door could be opened during any one year, so that if
5:25:25
I found my way blocked and turned back again, it would mean a delay
5:25:29
of twelve months. Bulbrain, with all his wisdom, was powerless to assist
5:25:33
me, although I was half inclined to think that he might have done so
5:25:37
had he been permitted to investigate the secret records of the kingdom, carved upon
5:25:40
huge tablets of ice and stored away in the vaults of the palace. The
5:25:45
fact of the matter is King Gilidus was so desirous of having me assist at
5:25:48
the marriage feast of Princess Schnebule that he threw every obstacle in my way that
5:25:52
he could without openly showing his hand. Then Schneeboulay herself, by the dancing
5:25:57
of her clear gray eyes, gave me to understand that she too, was
5:26:00
hoping that I would make a mistake. When I came to point out the
5:26:03
door which I wanted open, Bulgar saw that I was in trouble, but
5:26:07
he couldn't comprehend clearly what the trouble was. He kept his eyes fastened upon
5:26:11
me, however, watching my every movement, hoping no doubt to solve the
5:26:15
mystery. While sitting one day lost in thought over the very serious problem which
5:26:21
I found myself called upon to solve, an idea struck me. I had
5:26:25
noticed that in the meat quarries the workmen often made use of sounding rods,
5:26:29
which were long pieces of polished bone ending in flint tips. A Cultiqorpian quarryman,
5:26:34
by dexterously twisting his rod, was able to bore a hole six feet
5:26:40
deep or more into the solid bed of ice, when desirous of ascertaining the
5:26:42
position of a carcass in the meat quarry. And it occurred to me that
5:26:45
by piercing the portals of ice which closed their various corridors I have spoken of,
5:26:51
possibly Bulgar's keen scent might recognize that current affair, which would have in
5:26:56
it the odor of earth and rock. In other words, make choice for
5:27:00
me of the portal which opened on that corridor leading away from the icy domain
5:27:04
of King Galidas, and not merely into some outlying chamber of his kingdom.
5:27:08
His frigid. Majesty could not object to such experiments, for the law only
5:27:12
forbade the hewing of openings large enough for the huer to pass through. King
5:27:17
Gelidas and half a dozen of his courtiers, looking stern and frigid and conversing
5:27:22
in freezing tones, were present to see the experiment tried, methought. Their
5:27:26
icy lips clacked together with satisfaction when, at my request, one portal after
5:27:30
another was pierced. But Bolger, after sniffing at the hole, turned away
5:27:34
with a bewildered look in his eyes, as if he didn't half understand why
5:27:38
I was ordering him to thrust his warm nose into such cold places. And
5:27:44
so we tramped from corridor to corridor until the quarrymen began to show signs of
5:27:48
fatigue, and the sounding rod turned slower and slower in their hands. Frosty
5:27:52
Fizz blinked his cold gray eyes as much as to say, little Baron,
5:27:56
thou must bide with us for another year. But I merely turned to quarrymen
5:28:00
and ordered them to pierce one more portal of ice. Ere we abandoned the
5:28:03
task for the day. They went at the work of piercing the eleventh door
5:28:07
with the pace of pack mules up a mountain side. But at last the
5:28:11
sounding rod bored a way through, and at a wave of my hand the
5:28:15
quarryman fell back. In an instant. Bulgar had his nose at the hole
5:28:18
and took three or four quick nervous sniffs, ending with a long, deep,
5:28:22
drawn one, and then breaking out into a string of sharp, jerky,
5:28:26
joyful barks. He began scratching furiously at the bottom of the portal,
5:28:30
Your frigid Majesty, said I, with a low and stately bend of my
5:28:36
body, such as only those born to the manor can make by this portal.
5:28:40
At the coming of tomorrow's sun, I shall pass from your Majesty's icy
5:28:44
dominion. And when Frosty Fiz and Glacier Boy heard these words of mine,
5:28:48
uttered so loftily their eyes gleamed cold as steel. Then they followed the King
5:28:53
in silence back to the Palace of Ice. Shinibu Ley met them in the
5:28:57
grand hallway, and when she had looked upon their faces, she began to
5:29:00
weep, for she loved me, and she loved Bulgar too, and her
5:29:03
cold little heart could not bear the thought of our going king Gelidus, however,
5:29:07
soon recovered his spirits and ordered a feast with song and dance in honor
5:29:12
of Bulgar, who during the festivity sat on the highest of Anne with the
5:29:17
softest pelt beneath him. And so many were the frozen tidbits which the Culti
5:29:21
Corps presented to him during the progress of the feast that I grew alarmed lest
5:29:25
he might overload his stomach and not be in a fit condition to make the
5:29:29
early start on our journey, of which I had given notice to the Cultiqorpian
5:29:32
monarch. But his good sense saved him from doing so foolish a thing.
5:29:36
In fact, I was greatly amused to see that while he accepted every tidbit
5:29:40
handed to him and solemnly went through the motions of chewing it, yet watching
5:29:44
his chance, he slyly dropped it out of his mouth and flirted it aside
5:29:48
with his paw. Thus was spent our last night at the icy court of
5:29:51
his frigid majesty, And on the morrow the Colti Corps elected in gray crowds
5:29:56
on the different terraces to say good bye. I pressed a kiss on the
5:30:00
the cheek of Princess schneeboulet when it had turned to ice crystals, when of
5:30:03
her men brushed it into an alabaster box. Prince Chilichops, the former lamp
5:30:08
trimmer, was on hand with the rest of the Colti Coorpian nobles. But
5:30:11
I flattered myself that Schneebuley loved me better than she did him. However,
5:30:17
I wished him joy and gripped his cold palm with such warmth that he stood
5:30:21
blowing it for a whole minute. When we reached the lofty portal, we
5:30:25
found that the quarryman had already hewn a passage through it, and near by
5:30:29
I observed a pile of massive blocks of ice crystal clear. These, when
5:30:33
Bulgar and I should pass through the opening, were to be used in wolding
5:30:37
it up again. And when I saw this pile of blocks, and remembered
5:30:40
the solid workmanship of the Cultiqorpian quarrymen, the thought flooted through my mind.
5:30:45
Suppose Bulger hath not chosen wisely, what use would there be in turning back?
5:30:49
For my own weak hands would be powerless against a wall built of such
5:30:52
blocks, and knock I ever so loud, How could the sound ever traversed
5:30:57
as long and winding corridor and reached the ear of a Colti corp. No,
5:31:03
said I to myself, if Bulgar hath not chosen wisely, it will
5:31:07
be good bye to both upper and under worlds. And then, bearing an
5:31:11
alabaster lamp in one hand and in the other holding the cord which I had
5:31:15
tied to Bulgar's collar, I stepped through the narrow passage hewn by the quarryman
5:31:19
and turned my back forever on the cold dominion of Galidus, king of the
5:31:23
Colti Corpse. Once I halted and looked back, I could see nothing,
5:31:27
but I could hear the sharp click of the flint axes as the quarryman closed
5:31:32
up the door that shut me out from so many cold but loving hearts.
5:31:36
And then I drew a long breath and went on my way again. And
5:31:40
that was the last I ever saw of the Colti Corpse, save in a
5:31:44
day dream or night vision. End of Chapter twenty nine. Chapter thirty all
5:31:52
about the most terrible but magnificent ride I ever took in my life, ninety
5:31:56
miles on the back of a flying mass of ice, and how Bulgar and
5:32:00
I were landed at last on the banks of a most wonderful river. How
5:32:04
the day broke in this thunder world. Had my hand at that moment not
5:32:10
grasped a cord tied to the neck of my wise and keen eyed Bulgar,
5:32:14
I really believe I would have come to a halt, faced about, retraced
5:32:18
my steps, and begged the inhabitants of this crystal realm to admit me once
5:32:22
more into the cold kingdom. When Gelidus held his icy court for A sudden
5:32:27
fit of depression came upon me, as the chilly air struck against my cheeks,
5:32:32
and I saw the deep darkness made visible by the tiny flame of my
5:32:36
alabaster lamp hold. Though it might be I would have sunshine in the icy
5:32:41
land of the Colti corpse, But now how could I tell what fate awaited
5:32:45
me? Luckily I had asked the captain of the meat quarries to allow me
5:32:48
to retain one of his sounding rods with its flint point, for I feared
5:32:53
lest in descending some icy declivity, I might fall and bruise or even break
5:32:57
a limb. I was the German to advance cautiously along this icy passage,
5:33:03
shrouded as it was in impenetrable gloom, and so different from the broad and
5:33:07
polished pavement of the Marble Highway, and hence hanging the lamp about my neck,
5:33:12
I proceeded to make use of the sounding rod as an alpenstock, for
5:33:17
which purposes it was admirably adapted. Suddenly, Bulgar halted, gave a low
5:33:22
whine of warning, and turned back. In an instant I knew that there
5:33:26
was danger ahead, and, letting myself drop on my hands and knees,
5:33:30
crawled carefully along to make an investigation of the dangerous spot in our route signaled
5:33:36
by the watchful Bulgar. It was only too true. We stood apparently upon
5:33:41
the very edge of a sheer parapet. How high I had no way of
5:33:45
ascertaining, but I was unable to reach any bottom with the sounding rod.
5:33:48
What was to be done? Turned back? It was not yet too late.
5:33:53
The Colti Corpion quarrymen could not have completed their task in so short a
5:33:56
time. They would hear my knock that would tear down their wall of ice,
5:34:00
and Gilodus and Schneebouleet would welcome us back to their ice palace with a
5:34:04
cold but honest satisfaction. As I sat there, plunged in thought, I
5:34:08
half consciously began to twirl the sounding rod around until I had sunk it half
5:34:14
in its length into the floor of ice, and then, reaching out,
5:34:17
I encircled Vulgar with my arm and drew him up against me, as was
5:34:21
my wont when preparing for profound meditation. I had scarcely done so when the
5:34:26
ice beneath me gave one of those sharp, clear, cracking noises so unlike
5:34:30
the sound made by the breaking of any other substance. And thereupon I felt
5:34:34
the crystal mass on which Bulgar and I were sitting tremble and vibrate for an
5:34:40
instance, and then with a sudden downward can't break away from the mass behind
5:34:45
it and begin to move. Instinctively, a sense of my awful peril prompted
5:34:48
me to cling to the sounding rod, which I had sunk drill like into
5:34:52
the ice. Luckily it was between my legs, and quick as a flash,
5:34:56
I entwined them around it, assuming a Turkish sitting posture, while my
5:35:00
left arm was wrapped tightly around Bulger's body. I don't know how it was
5:35:04
done done, as it was all in an instant, but there I sat,
5:35:08
now firmly saddled so to speak upon that crystal monster's back, as with
5:35:12
a creak and a crash, it snapped the crystal lynx, which bounded to
5:35:17
the wall of ice and plunged headlong down the glassy slope. In my fright,
5:35:21
I had dropped my lamp, and now the deep gloom of this underworld
5:35:25
enwrapped me. But no it was not so far. As the escaping block
5:35:29
of ice creaked and crunched its way along the two cold crystal surfaces, gave
5:35:33
forth a weird glimmer of phosphorescent light, which made the flying mass seem like
5:35:40
a monstrous living thing, out of whose thousand eyes were darting tongues of flame
5:35:45
as it rushed madly along, now gaining speed upon striking a steeper stretch of
5:35:49
whey, now fowling with some obstruction, and dashing against the rocky sides of
5:35:55
the corridor, and sending a shower of crystal sparkling and glittering in the air.
5:36:00
Anon the escaping block comes upon a gentle slope, and with the low
5:36:04
music of crushing crystals, slips softly along in its flight, as if mounted
5:36:10
upon runners of polished steel, And then with a sudden dipet glides upon a
5:36:14
sharper descent, and fairly leaps into the air as it bounds along, hissing
5:36:18
over the slippery roadway and leaving a train of fire behind it. And now
5:36:22
it strikes a stretch of way piled here and there with clumps and blocks of
5:36:26
ice. With a mad furia, springs upon the lesser ones with a growl
5:36:30
of rage, grinding them into powder, which like showers of icy foam it
5:36:34
hurls upon Bulgar and Me seated on its back. But some of the blocks
5:36:38
resist its terrible onslaught, and our mighty steed is hurled from side to side
5:36:42
with crash and creek, as it drives its crystal corners fiercely against the jutting
5:36:48
rocks, leaving marks of its white flesh on these black heads of Adamant.
5:36:52
It seems an hour since the crystal monster broke away, And yet ever downward
5:36:56
he threads his wild flight, butting, bumping and jostling, veering, staggering
5:37:02
along, bearing Bulgar and Me to the lowest level of the world within a
5:37:04
world. Will he ever into his mad flight? Is there no way for
5:37:08
me to curb him? Must he fly until he has ground his very body
5:37:12
to such a thinness that the next obstruction will shatter it into ten thousand pieces
5:37:18
and hurl Bulgar and me to death. As these thoughts are flitting through my
5:37:22
mind, the flying mass takes one last mad plunge, which lands it on
5:37:27
an almost level stretch of roadway. By the different sound given out by the
5:37:32
sliding block, I know that we have left the regions of ice behind us,
5:37:36
and that our crystal sledge is gliding gently along over a track of polished
5:37:41
marble. But mile after mile it still glides along gently, softly, silently,
5:37:48
And then I dare to think that our lives are saved. But so
5:37:52
terrible had been the strain, so fearful, the anxiety, so exhausting,
5:37:56
the effort necessary to hold my place on the block of ice and keep my
5:38:00
beloved Bulgar from slipping out of my arms, that I fell backward into a
5:38:03
dead faint as the gliding mass came at last to a standstill. I think
5:38:08
I must have lain there a good half hour or so, for when I
5:38:12
came to myself, Bulgar's frantic joy told me that he had been terribly wrought
5:38:17
up over me, and the moment I opened my eyes, he began to
5:38:19
shower caresses on my hands and face in most loverlike style. Dear grateful heart.
5:38:26
He felt that he owed his life this time to his little master,
5:38:29
and he wanted me to understand how thankful he was. The moment Bulgar's nerves
5:38:33
had recovered from the shock occasioned by my prolonged faint, I reached for my
5:38:37
repeater and touched its spring. It registered one hour and a half since we
5:38:41
had stepped through the icy portal of King Gelidus's domain, allowing a half hour
5:38:47
for the time I lay unconscious. It showed that our mad descent on the
5:38:51
back of the crystal monster had lasted quite a full hour, and reckoning the
5:38:56
average speed of the escaping mass office to have been a mile and a half
5:38:59
a minute, that we were now in the neighborhood of ninety miles away from
5:39:03
the cold kingdom, where Gelidus sat on his icy throne, the Princess Schneebule
5:39:07
at his feet, with chilly chops beside her. It was with great difficulty
5:39:12
that I could rise to my feet, so stiffened were my joints and knotted
5:39:17
my muscles. After that terrible ride, every instant of which I expected to
5:39:22
be dashed to pieces against projecting rocks, or torn to shreds by being caught
5:39:26
between the fleeing monster of ice and the gigantic icicles hanging from the ceiling,
5:39:30
like the shining teeth of some huge creature of this underworld. But could it
5:39:36
be, dear friends, that Bulgar and I had only escaped a quick and
5:39:40
merciful ending to be brought face to face with a death ten tons more terrible,
5:39:44
and that it was to be slow and gradual, denied even the poor
5:39:48
boon of looking upon each other, For darkness impenetrable was folded about us,
5:39:52
and silence so deep that my ears ached in their longing for some sound to
5:39:56
break it. And yet there was something in the sound of my own voice
5:40:00
that startled me when I used it. It seemed as if the awful stillness
5:40:04
were angered at being disturbed by it, and smote it back into my teeth.
5:40:10
Where are we? This was the question I put to myself, And
5:40:12
then in my mind I strove to recall every word which I had read in
5:40:17
the musty pages of Don Fume's manuscript concerning the World within a World, But
5:40:22
I could recollect nothing to enlighten me. Not a word to give me hope
5:40:26
or cheer, and I was about to cry out in utter despair, when
5:40:30
happening to raise my eyes and look off in the distance, I saw what
5:40:33
seemed to be a jack a lantern dancing along the ground. It was a
5:40:37
strange and fantastic sight in this region of inky darkness, and for a moment
5:40:42
I stood watching it with bated breath and wide open eyes. But no,
5:40:47
it could not be a will of the whisp. For now the faint and
5:40:49
uncertain glimmer had increased to a mild but steady glow, reaching away off into
5:40:55
the distance, like a long line of dying camp fires seen through an enveloping
5:41:00
But in a moment's time, this wide and circling ring of light had so
5:41:03
increased in brightness that it looked for all the world like a break of day
5:41:07
in the land of sunshine. And here and there where its mild infulgence overcame
5:41:12
the darkness of this subterranean region, I caught sight of walls and arches and
5:41:18
columns of snow white marble. And then, as I called to mind Dan
5:41:22
Fum's mysterious reference to sunrise in the lower world, I swung my hat and
5:41:26
gave a loud cry of joy, while Bulgler waked the echoes of these spacious
5:41:32
caverns by his barking. I tell you, dear friends, not until you
5:41:36
have been in just such a plight can you know just how such a rescue
5:41:40
feels. And now no doubt you are a bit anxious to know what sort
5:41:44
of a sunrise could possibly take place in this underworld miles below our own.
5:41:48
Well, when you have traveled as many miles as I have, and seen
5:41:52
as many wonders as I have, you'll be ready to admit that wonders are
5:41:56
quite as commonplace as commonplace itself. Know then, that this vast region of
5:42:02
the world within a world was girt round about by a broad and placid stream,
5:42:06
whose water swarmed with vast numbers of gigantic, radiant animals such as polyps,
5:42:11
sea urchins, Portuguese men of war, sea anemonies, and the like.
5:42:17
That these transparent creatures, which had the power of emitting light, after
5:42:21
lying dormant for twelve hours, gradually unfolded their bodies and tentacles and rose toward
5:42:26
the surface of these common, limpid waters, increasing by degrees their mysterious radiance
5:42:32
until they had chased the darkness from the vast caverns opening upon the banks of
5:42:36
the river, and lighted up this underworld with a soft effulgence somewhat brighter than
5:42:40
the rays of our full moon. For twelve hours, these weird lanterns of
5:42:44
the stream made it day for this nether world. And then as they gradually
5:42:48
shrank together and sank out of sight, their expiring fires glowed with all the
5:42:52
multi colored radiance of our firest twilight, and that night, blacker than stygy
5:42:59
in darkness came back again, but now twas full daylight and bidding bulgar follow
5:43:03
me, I walked in silent wonder along the banks of this glowing stream,
5:43:07
which, like a band of mysterious fire, as far as my eye could
5:43:11
reach, went circling around the white marble mouths of these vast underground chambers.
5:43:18
End of chapter thirty Chapter thirty one, in which you read of the glorious
5:43:23
caverns of white marble fronting on the wonderful river in the tropics of the underworld.
5:43:29
How we came upon a solitary wanderer on the banks of the river,
5:43:33
my conversation with him, and my joy at finding myself in the land of
5:43:37
the rattle brains or happy forgetters, brief description of them. With every turn
5:43:41
in the winding way that skirted the white shores of this wonderful stream, its
5:43:45
swarms of light emitting animals lent it a new beauty. For as the day
5:43:51
advanced, if I may so express it, they lifted their glowing bodies nearer
5:43:55
and nearer to the surface, until now the river shone like molten silver,
5:44:00
And as the sheer walls of rock on the opposite bank held set in them
5:44:03
vast slabs of mica. The effect was that these gigantic natural mirrors reflected the
5:44:08
glowing stream with startling fidelity, and through the flood of soft light, in
5:44:14
dazzling shimmer, against the fantastic portals of the white marble caverns on this side
5:44:18
of the stream. It was a scene never to forget. And again again
5:44:22
I paused, in silent wonder, to feast my eyes upon some newly discovered
5:44:26
beauty. Now for the first time I noted that every white marble basin of
5:44:30
cove and inlet was filled with a different glow, according to the nature of
5:44:36
the tiny phosphorescent animals which happened to fill its waters, one being a delicate
5:44:40
pink, another a glorious red, the third a deep rich purple, the
5:44:45
fourth a soft blue, the fifth a golden yellow, and so on,
5:44:51
the charm of each tent being greatly enhanced by the snowy whiteness of these marble
5:44:56
basins, through which long lines of curious fish scaled in huge of polished gold
5:45:00
and silver, swam slowly along, turning up their glorious sides to catch the
5:45:06
full splendor of the light reflected from the mica mirrors. And now the chilly
5:45:10
breath of King Galadus's domain no longer filled the air. I stood in the
5:45:15
tropics of the underworld, so to speak. And but one thing was lacking
5:45:18
to make my enjoyment of this fairy region complete, and that was someone to
5:45:22
share it with me. True Bulgar had an idea of its beauty, for
5:45:26
he testified his happiness at being once more in a warm land by executing some
5:45:32
mad capers for my amusement, and by scampering along the shore of the glowing
5:45:36
river and barking at the stately fish as they slowly fanned the water with their
5:45:40
many colored fins. But I must admit that I longed for the Princess Shnibouleh
5:45:44
to keep me company, But it was a rash wish, for the warm
5:45:48
air would have thrown her into convulsions of fear, and she would have preferred
5:45:51
to meet her death in the cool river rather than attempt to breathe such a
5:45:56
fiery atmosphere. By this time I had advanced several miles along the white shore
5:46:00
of the glowing stream, and, feeling somewhat fatigued, I was about to
5:46:03
sit down on the jutting edge of a natural bench of rock, which seemed
5:46:07
almost placed on the river ranks by human hands, for human forms to rest
5:46:11
upon and watch the wonderful play of tints and hues in this wide, sweeping
5:46:15
inlet. When to my amazement, I saw that a human creature was already
5:46:18
sitting there. His eyes were fixed upon the water, and methought that his
5:46:22
face, which was gentle and placid, wore a tired look. Certainly,
5:46:26
he was plunged into such deep meditation that he either took or feigned to take
5:46:32
no notice of my approach. Vulgar was inclined to dash forward and attract his
5:46:36
attention by a string of ear splitting barks, but I shook my head.
5:46:40
This wander along the glowing stream of day wore rather a graceful cloak like garment
5:46:45
woven of some substance that shimmered in the light, and so I concluded that
5:46:48
it must be a mineral wool. His head was bare, and so were
5:46:52
his legs to the knees, his feet being shod with white metal sandals tied
5:46:57
on with what looked like leathern thong. Allin all, he had a friendly,
5:47:02
though somewhat peculiar look about him, and his attitude struck me as being
5:47:06
that of a person either plunged into deep thought or possibly listening for some anxiously
5:47:11
expected signal. At any rate, Accustomed as I was to meet all sorts
5:47:15
of people on my travels in the four corners of the globe, I determined
5:47:18
to make bold enough to interrupt the gentleman's meditations and wish him good morrow.
5:47:23
Whom have I the pleasures meeting in this beautiful section of the world within a
5:47:26
world. The man looked at me in a dazed sort of way and replied,
5:47:32
I really don't know. I'm happy to say, but sir, thy
5:47:37
name, I insisted forgot it years ago was his remarkable answer. But surely,
5:47:42
sir, I exclaimed rather testily, nor not the sole inhabitant of this
5:47:47
beautiful underworld, thou hast kinsman wife family, a gentle stranger. He replied,
5:47:52
in slow and measured tones. There are people farther along the shore,
5:47:56
and they are good, dear souls, although I have forgotten their names,
5:48:00
and I have to a very faint recollection that two of these people are sons
5:48:04
of mine. Stop No, their names are gone from me too. I
5:48:10
forgot them the day my own name slipped from my mind. And as he
5:48:14
uttered these words, he threw his head back with a sudden jerk, and
5:48:17
I heard a strange click inside of it, as if something had slipped from
5:48:22
its place. And that instant, a mysterious expression used by that master of
5:48:26
masters, Don Fume, flashed through my mind. Rattlebrains, Yes, that
5:48:33
was it, And now I felt sure that ire was standing in the presence
5:48:37
of one of the curious folk inhabiting the world within a world to whom Don
5:48:41
Fum had given the strange name of rattlebrains or happy forgetters. I was so
5:48:45
delighted that I could barely keep myself from rushing up to this gentle visaged and
5:48:51
mild mannered person whose head had just given forth the sharp click, and grasping
5:48:56
him by the hand. But I feared to shock him by such a friendly
5:48:59
greeting, and so I contented myself with crying out, Sir, thou seest
5:49:03
before thee none other than the famous traveler Baron Sebastian von Trump. But to
5:49:08
my great amazement and greater chagrin, he simply turned his strange eyes with the
5:49:12
far away look upon me for an instant, and then resumed his contemplation of
5:49:18
the beautifully tinted sheet of water, as if I hadn't opened my mouth.
5:49:22
It was the most extraordinary treatment that I had experienced since my descent into the
5:49:26
underworld, and I was upon the point of resenting it as became a true
5:49:30
knight, and especially of von Trump, when Don Fume's brief description of the
5:49:33
rattle brains are happy forgetters flitted through my mind, said he, by the
5:49:38
exercise of their strong wills, they have been busy for ages, striving to
5:49:41
unload their brains of the to them now useless stock of knowledge accumulated by their
5:49:47
ancestors. And the natural consequence has been that the brains of these curious folk,
5:49:52
who call themselves the happy forgetters, relieved of all labor and strain of
5:49:56
thought, have absolutely shrunken, rather than increased in s eyes, so that
5:50:00
with many of the happy forgeters, their brains are like the shriveled kernel of
5:50:03
the last year's nut, and give forth a sharp click when they move their
5:50:07
heads suddenly with a jerk, as is often their wont for they take great
5:50:11
pride in proving to the listener that they deserve the name of rattle brain.
5:50:15
Nor do I need remind the old reader. Concluded Don Fum in his celebrated
5:50:19
work on the World within a World, that the chiefest among the happy forgetters
5:50:23
is the man whose head gives forth the loudest and sharpest click. For he
5:50:27
it is who has forgotten most. You can have but a faint idea,
5:50:32
Dear friends, of my delight at the prospect of spending some time among these
5:50:36
curious people, people who look with absolute dread upon knowledge as the one thing
5:50:41
necessary to get rid of before happiness can enter the human heart. No joy
5:50:45
can equal the happy forgetters. When upon clasping a friend's hand, he finds
5:50:49
that he has forgotten his very name, And no day is well spent in
5:50:52
this land at the close of which the inhabitant may not exclaim this day I
5:50:57
succeeded in forgetting something that I knew yesterday. At last, the happy forgetter
5:51:03
rose from his seat and calmly walked away, without so much as wishing me
5:51:07
good day. But I was resolved not to be so easily gotten rid of,
5:51:11
so I called after him in a loud voice in vulgar Following my example,
5:51:15
raised a racket at his heels, whereupon he faced about and remarked,
5:51:19
beg, pardon. I had quite forgotten thee I'm happy to say, and
5:51:23
thy name too, I've forgotten that. Let me see art thou already it
5:51:29
one of the animals in the water. I was more than half inclined to
5:51:32
lose my temper at this slur, classing me a backboned animal with a mere
5:51:37
jellyfish. But under all the circumstances, I thought it best to control myself,
5:51:41
for I could well imagine that from the size of my head and the
5:51:45
utter absence of all click inside of it, I was not destined to be
5:51:49
a very welcome visitor among the happy forgetters. And therefore, swallowing my injured
5:51:55
feelings, I made a very low bow and begged this curious gentleman to be
5:51:59
kind enough to conduct me to his people, among whom I wished to abide
5:52:03
for a few days. End of chapter thirty one, Chapter thirty two,
5:52:10
How we entered the land of the Happy Forgetters. Something more about these curious
5:52:14
folk, their dread of Bulgar and me. Only a stay of one day
5:52:18
accorded us description of the pleasant homes of the Happy Forgetters, the revolving door
5:52:25
through which Bulgar and I are unceremoniously set outside of the domain of the rattle
5:52:30
brains, all about the extraordinary things which happened to Bulgar and me Thereafter,
5:52:36
once more in the open air of the upper world, and then homeward bound,
5:52:41
the happy Forgetter pursued his way calmly along the winding path that skirted the
5:52:45
glowing river, apparently, and no doubt really, unconscious of the fact that
5:52:48
Bulgar and I were following close at his heels. After half an hour or
5:52:52
so of this silent tramp, he suddenly came to a standstill, and,
5:52:56
with his placid countenance turned toward the light, seemed to be so far away
5:53:00
in thought that for several moments I hesitated to address him, But as there
5:53:06
were no signs of his showing any disposition to come to himself, I made
5:53:10
bold to ask him the cause of the delay. I'm happy to say,
5:53:14
he remarked, without so much as deigning to turn his head, that I
5:53:18
have forgotten which of these two roads leads to the homes of our people.
5:53:21
Well, this was a pleasant outlook, to be sure, and I don't
5:53:25
know what we should have done had not Bulgar solved the difficulty for us by
5:53:29
making choice of one of the paths, and dais sheen on ahead with a
5:53:32
bark of encouragement for us to follow. When I assured the happy forgetter that
5:53:36
he need have no fear as to the wisdom of the choice, he gave
5:53:40
a start of almost horror at the information. For you must know, dear
5:53:44
friends, that the happy forgetter has more head of knowledge than we have of
5:53:48
ignorance to learn. It is the mother of all discontent, the source of
5:53:52
all unhappiness, the cause of all the dreadful ills that have come upon the
5:53:55
world and the people in it. The world, said one of the happy
5:53:59
forgetters, to me sadly was perfectly happy once and man had no name for
5:54:03
his brother, and yet he loved him, even as the turtle dove loves
5:54:07
his mate, although he has no names to call her by. But alas
5:54:11
one day, this happiness came to an end, for a strange malady broke
5:54:15
out among the people. They were seized with a wild desire to invent names
5:54:19
for things, even many names for the same thing, and different ways of
5:54:25
doing the same thing. This strange passion grew so upon them that they spent
5:54:30
their lives in making them, in every possible way, harder to live.
5:54:33
They built different roads to the same place. They made different clothes for different
5:54:37
days, and different dishes for different feasts. To each child they gave two,
5:54:42
three, and even four different names, and different shoes were fashioned for
5:54:47
different feet. And one family was no longer satisfied with one drinking board.
5:54:52
Did they stop there? Nay. They now busied themselves learning how to make
5:54:56
different faces to different friends, covering a frown with a smile, and singing
5:55:02
gay songs when their hearts were sad. In a few centuries, a brother
5:55:06
could no longer read a brother's face, and one half of the world went
5:55:10
about wondering what the other half was thinking about. Hants arose, misunderstandings,
5:55:15
quarrels, feuds. Warfare man was no longer content to dwell with his fellow
5:55:22
man in the spacious caverns which kind nature had hollowed out for him, piercing
5:55:26
the mountains with winding passages, beside which his narrow streets dwindled to merest pathways.
5:55:33
In the land of the happy forgetters, care never comes to trouble,
5:55:37
sleep nor anxious thought to wear the dread mask of tomorrow. Happy the day
5:55:42
on which this child of nature might exclaim, since morn, I've forgotten something,
5:55:48
I've n't loaded my mind. It's one thought lighter than it was.
5:55:52
He was the happiest of the happy forgeters, who could honestly say, I
5:55:56
know not thy name, nor when thou wast born, nor where thou dwellest,
5:56:02
nor who thy kinsmen are. I only know that thou art my brother,
5:56:06
and that thou wilt not see me suffer if I should forget to eat
5:56:08
or perish of thirst, if I forget to drink, and that thou wilt
5:56:11
bid me close my eyes, if I should forget that I had laid me
5:56:15
down to sleep. Bulgars, and my arrival in the land of the happy
5:56:18
forgetters filled the hearts of these curious folk with secret dread. At sight of
5:56:23
my large head, they all began to tremble like children in the dark,
5:56:27
stricken with fear of booge or goblin, and with one voice they refused to
5:56:33
permit me to sojourn a single brief half hour among them. But gradually this
5:56:37
sudden terror passed off a bit, and after a council held by a few
5:56:41
of the younger men, whose brains as yet completely filled their heads, it
5:56:45
was determined that I might bide for another day in their land, but that
5:56:49
then the revolving door should be opened, and Bulgar and I be thrust outside
5:56:55
of their domain. From what don Fum had written about the Happy Forgivers,
5:57:00
I knew only too well that it would be useless for me to attempt to
5:57:03
reverse this decree. So I held my peace, except to thank them for
5:57:07
this great favor shown me. The daylight, if I may call it so,
5:57:11
now began to wane, or rather, the thousands of light giving creatures
5:57:15
swarming in the river now began to draw in their long tentacles clothes their flower
5:57:21
like bodies, and slowly sink to the bottom of the stream. I was
5:57:26
quite anxious to see whether the happy forgetters would make any attempt to light up
5:57:29
their cavernous homes, or whether they would simply creep off to bed and sleep
5:57:33
out the long hours of pitchy darkness. To my surprise, I overheard the
5:57:38
clicking of flints on all sides, and in a moment or so a thousand
5:57:41
or more great candles made of mineral wax with asbestos wicks were lighted, and
5:57:48
the great chambers of white marble were soon aglow with these soft and steady flame
5:57:52
The happy forgetters were strictly vegetable eaters, feeding upon the various fungus plants growing
5:57:57
in these caverns in great refusion, together with a very nutritious and pleasant tasting
5:58:03
chili made from a hardened gum of vegetable origin, which abounded in the crevices
5:58:07
of certain rocks. There was still another source of food, namely the nests
5:58:12
of certain shell fish, which they built against the face of the rock,
5:58:17
just above the surface of the water. These dissolved in boiling water, made
5:58:21
an excellent broth very much like the soup from edible birds nests. The clothes
5:58:26
worn by the Happy Forgeters were entirely woven from mineral wool, which in these
5:58:30
caverns gave a long and strong fiber of astonishing softness. The rattle brains were
5:58:36
tolerably good metal workers, too, but contented themselves with fashioning only such articles
5:58:41
as were actually necessary for daily use. Their beds were stuffed with dried seaweed
5:58:47
and lichens. In Bulgar and I passed a very comfortable night, as I
5:58:52
was forbidden to speak aloud, to ask a question, or to walk abroad
5:58:56
unless in company with one of the selectmen. I was not sorry when the
5:58:59
moment came for the revolving door to be opened. The Happy Forgetters had been
5:59:03
led to believe that Bulgar and I were a thousand times more dangerous than scaly
5:59:07
monsters or black winged vampires, and hence they held themselves aloof from us,
5:59:12
the children hiding behind their mothers, and the mothers peering through crack and crevice
5:59:17
at us. The size of my head inspired them with a nameless dread,
5:59:22
and even the half dozen of the younger and more courageous drew aside instinctively to
5:59:26
let me pass. For the first time in my life, I was an
5:59:30
object of horror to my fellow creatures, but I had no hard thoughts against
5:59:33
them, timid children of nature that they were. To them. I was
5:59:37
as terrible an object as the torch armed demon of destruction would be to us,
5:59:41
were he let loose in one of our fair cities of the upper world.
5:59:45
And now the guard of happy forgetters had halted in front of what seemed
5:59:48
to be a huge cask fashioned of solid marble, and set one half within
5:59:53
the white wall of the cavern to which they had led me. But on
5:59:56
second glance I saw that there was a row of square holes around its bulge,
6:00:03
like those in the top of a capstan. The happy forgiters now disappeared
6:00:07
for a moment, and when they joined me again, each bore in hand
6:00:10
a metal bar, the end of which lies set in one of these holes.
6:00:12
And then, at a signal from the leader, the huge half circle
6:00:17
of marble began to turn noiselessly round, exactly like a capstan. As each
6:00:22
man's lever came to the wall, he shifted it to the front again.
6:00:26
Suddenly, to my amazement, I saw that the great marble cask was hollow,
6:00:30
like a sentry box, and you may judge of my feelings, dear
6:00:33
friends, Upon being politely requested to step inside, did I refuse to obey?
6:00:40
Not? I. It would have been useless, for was not the
6:00:42
whole tribe of rattle brains there to lay hands upon me and thrust me in.
6:00:48
So, taking off my hat and making a low bow to the little
6:00:51
group of happy forgetters, I stepped within the hollow cask. And Bulgar did
6:00:55
the same, but not with so good a grace as his master. Forecasting
6:01:00
an angry glance at the inhospitable dwellers in these chambers of white marble, he
6:01:04
growled and laid bare his teeth to show his contempt for them. Now the
6:01:08
great marble cask began to revolve the other way, and in a moment it
6:01:14
was back in place again. I heard several sharp clicks, as if a
6:01:18
number of huge spring latches had snapped into place, And then all was silent
6:01:22
as the tomb, and I had almost said as dark too, But no
6:01:27
I could not say that, for I looked out into a low tunnel which
6:01:30
ran past the niche in which Bulgar and I were standing, and to my
6:01:33
more than wonder it was dimly lighted. I stepped out into it. It
6:01:38
was as round as a cannon bore, and just high enough for me to
6:01:42
stand erect. And now I discovered whence the light proceeded. In the cracks
6:01:48
and crevices of its walls, grew vast masses of those delicate light giving fungus
6:01:52
rootlets, the glow of which was so strong that I had no difficulty in
6:01:57
reading and writing on my tablets. In fact, I stood there for several
6:02:00
minutes, making entries by the light of these bunches of glowing rootlets. Then
6:02:04
the thought flashed through my mind, which way shall I turn? To the
6:02:08
right or to the left? Bulgar comprehended the cause of my vacillation, and
6:02:14
made haste to come to my rescue. After sniffing the air, first in
6:02:18
one direction and in any other, he chose the right hand, and I
6:02:21
followed, without a thought of questioning his wisdom. Strange to say, he
6:02:25
had not advanced more than a few hundred rods before I noticed that there was
6:02:29
a strong current of air blowing through the tunnel in the direction Vulgar had taken.
6:02:33
Every moment it increased in violence, fairly lifting us from our feet and
6:02:38
bearing us along through this narrow boar, made by Nature's own hands, and
6:02:42
lighted too by lamps of her own fashioning. The motion of the air through
6:02:47
this vast pipe caused bursts of mighty tones, as if peeled forth by some
6:02:52
gigantic organ played by giant hands. It was strange, but yet I felt
6:02:56
no terror as I listened to this unearthly music, although its depth of tone
6:03:03
jarred painfully upon my ear drums. By the dim light of the luminous rootlets,
6:03:07
I could see bulgar just ahead of me, and I was content.
6:03:11
No shiver of fear ran down my back or robbed my limbs of their full
6:03:14
power to resist the ever increasing pressure of the air. But as it grew
6:03:18
stronger and stronger, half of my own accord, and half because bulgars set
6:03:22
the example, I broke into a run. Our pace once quickened, it
6:03:26
was impossible for me to slow up again. On on in a mad race,
6:03:32
my feet scarcely touching the bottom of the tunnel, I sped along,
6:03:34
while the great pipe through which I was borne on the very wings of the
6:03:37
gale, sent forth its deep and majestic peal. There was something strangely and
6:03:44
mysteriously exciting in this race, and all that kept me from enjoying it to
6:03:48
my full bent was the thought that a sudden increase in the violence of the
6:03:52
blast might toss me violently on my face, impossibly break an arm for me,
6:03:56
or injure me in some serious way. All at once, the deep
6:04:00
peeling forth of the organ like tone seized, and in its stead came the
6:04:04
awful sound of a rushing water. Before I had time to think, it
6:04:10
was upon me, striking me like a terrific blow from some gigantic fist wearing
6:04:15
a boxing glove. The next instant I was caught up like a cork on
6:04:18
a mountain. Torrent swayed from side to side, twisted, turned, stapped
6:04:22
down and cast up again, whirled over and over, tossed and tumbled,
6:04:26
rolled along like a wheel, my arms and legsless spokes. Wonderful to relate.
6:04:32
I did not lose consciousness as this terrible current shot me like a stick
6:04:36
of timber through the flume, whither I knew not only that the speed and
6:04:40
volume went ever on increasing, until at last the tumultuous torrent filled the tunnel
6:04:45
and robbed me of light, of breath, of life, of everything,
6:04:49
including my faithful and loving Bulgar. How long it lasted, this fearful ride
6:04:55
in the arms of these mad waters, rushing as if for life or death
6:05:00
through this narrow boar, I know not. I only know that my ears
6:05:03
were suddenly assailed with a mighty whizz and rush of water, as through the
6:05:07
nozzle of some gigantic hose, and that I was shot out into the glorious
6:05:11
sunshine, out on to the grand, free open air of the upper world,
6:05:17
and sent flying up toward the dear blue sky with its flecks of fleecely
6:05:22
cloudlets, and Bulgar some twenty feet ahead of me, And that then,
6:05:26
with a gracefully curved flight through the soft and balmy air of harvest time,
6:05:30
we both were gently dropped into a quiet little lake, nestled at the foot
6:05:34
of a hillside, yellow with ripened corn. In a moment or so we
6:05:40
had swum ashore. Bulgar wanted to halt and shake the water from his thick
6:05:45
coat, but I couldn't wait for that. Wet as he was, I
6:05:48
clasped into my heart while he showered caresses on me, But not a word
6:05:52
was said not a sound was uttered, we both of us too happy to
6:05:56
speak. And if you have ever been in that state, dear friends,
6:05:59
you know how it feels. I can't describe it to you. At this
6:06:03
moment, some men and boys, clad in the garb of the Russian peasant,
6:06:07
came racing across the fields to see what I was about. No doubt,
6:06:11
for I had stripped off my heavy outside clothing and was spreading it out
6:06:15
in the sun to dry. Upon sight of these red cheeked children of the
6:06:18
upper world, I was so overcome with joy that for a moment or so
6:06:22
I couldn't get a syllable across my lips. But making a great effort,
6:06:26
I cried out, Fathers, brothers, where am I speak, my dear
6:06:30
souls in northeastern Siberia, little soul, replied the eldest of the party,
6:06:37
not far from the banks of the Obie. But whence comest thou, by
6:06:41
Saint Nicholas, I believe thou hast spit out of the spouting, Well,
6:06:45
what art thou doing here alone? I paid no attention to the question.
6:06:51
I was thinking of something else of more importance to me. To wit,
6:06:53
my splendid achievement, the marvelous underground journey I had just completed fully five hundred
6:07:00
miles in length, passing completely under the Ural mountains. After a short stay
6:07:04
at the nearest village, I engaged the best guide that was to be had,
6:07:08
and crossed the Earls by the pass in the most direct line. Re
6:07:14
entered Russia and made haste to join the first government train on its way to
6:07:18
Saint Petersburg, having dispatched a courier with letters to my beloved parents informing them
6:07:23
of my good health and whereabouts. I passed several weeks very pleasantly in the
6:07:27
Russian capital, and then, by easy stages set out for home. The
6:07:33
elder Baron came as far as Riga to meet me and brought me the best
6:07:37
of news from Castle Trump, that my dear mother was in perfect health,
6:07:41
and that she and every man, woman and child in and about the castle
6:07:44
were anxiously awaiting to give me a real German welcome back home. And here,
6:07:49
dear friends mit Hertzlein, Greece, Bulger and I take our leave of
6:07:56
you. End of check, chapter thirty two. End of Baron Trump's Marvelous
6:08:03
Underground Journey by Ingersoll Lockwood